[Lurker]

For once I must agree with you.

A suspect holding a knife is an immediate threat to every officer in the room, handcuffed or not.

In fact, cops have been killed by handcuffed suspects wielding knives.

L

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Both of you guys are right about the weapon - but a real problem here from a tactical, procedural point of view is that the perp should be restrained, and the area cleared of anything usable as a weapon before anyone releases him from continuous physical control. Assuming that what the grand jury heard was true, my main question would address who cuffed him and searched him while scanning the area for weapons.

I'd also have to ask whether these guys spend any time in the weight room at all, and whether they were up to holding down an aggressive perpetrator. Seems to me that these guys were deficient in all these departments, and I have to wonder how either of them made detective.