Police were once upon a time trained to deal with baseball bats. In my youth I remember that sort of confrontation happening more than once and such events ended always with the bat wielder being caught in a chokehold or having his arm dislocated. Now they are trained to just shoot as first response to any perceived threat of any nature.In the old days, though, police would also shoot someone believed to be a fleeing felon. Young punks and old pros knew not to run unless distance and the availability of cover made it at least 50-50 that one would not get a bullet in the back.
You can thank Rodney King for that.
Perhaps an expert will weigh in here, but I think part of the problem is due to the de-emphasis of the heavy police baton (the nightstick). I guess the nightstick is now considered to be too crude a device. But it might have been a good option in this case.