It would have been the same if he were holding a dog.
Evidently shot-by-cop-dogs get more sympathy here on FR than shot-by-cop-humans...
... while at the same time many here on FR regularly decry the Obama "police state" and trampling of the Constitution.
The perp is up against a fence, obviously facing the fence...The witness did not claim that the cop told the perp to get on the ground...Apparently the cop wanted to show some superior force and throw the perp to the ground...
The natural thing to do is to resist being slammed to the ground...
Cop stands backs, sees what he perceives as the butt of a gun...Pulls out his weapon, apparently while the perp is still faced away, up against the fence...
Says ‘gun’ and shoots...Apparently the other cop had his gun drawn already and fired at the same time since they are both suspended from duty...
Does not appear to be life threatening to the cops, to me...