Sure, but that’s not how cops work. The process basically involves assessing, planning and executing.
There was information available including facts of the case as well as the guy’s behavior allowing the officer to avoid relying on luck, clairvoyance and mind reading. His experience pulled everything together.
Believe me. I don’t need to be told how cops work in these types of situations. Officers have split seconds to make life and death decisions and if you make the wrong one there is no going back.
If the officer has reason to believe his life is in danger he has to react accordingly or take the chance that he may not be going home that night.
This officer could have had a partner that may have felt differently and chose a different option. There is a difference between an out-of-control cop looking to shoot someone for kicks and an officer having to make a fast decision whether he wants to live or die.