Let’s assume you’re driving thru the middle of nowhere.
Up ahead you see a guy sitting by the side of the road. You choose to pull off next to him.
Wouldn’t you consider that an implicit invitation that you want to talk to him and that it would be reasonable for him to open the door to do so?
A totally different situation from if you were sitting in a parking lot in a city and somebody walks up to your car and opens the door.
I agree with you and the other poster, if that is in fact exactly the way it happened. I can’t tell because it’s an AP story, written with their usual eye for accuracy and completeness.