That's an important point. But what's missing from the article is the state of that car when the police started shooting. Was the car hemmed in, and so no longer a threat? Or was the car in motion and still capable of maneuvering, and so still a threat?
If I were the judge, the car's state would be most important.
No such animal as a hemmed in car, unless it's hemmed in by tanks on every side. If the blocking vehicles aren't tanks or something equally heavy, as long as the engine is still going, the car can move and kill officers that get in its path. Heck, I know of someone who, from a standing start, accidentally backed up his econobox and killed someone inside a foot of space. In addition, the cops were operating with the assumption that the occupants had firearms on them.
“Those known facts are first that the car was still running, and under Brelo’s observation the occupants were still moving. Up until that point the chase had taken place over 22 miles of driveways, parking lots, roads, and highways, and Russell had shown no intention of giving up. Russell had just rammed patrol car #238, but his car was not so wedged by #238 that his vehicle could not still be used as a weapon.”