Without any question the police were afraid of the 5-year-old. It's the logical extension of the cowardice police exhibited at the Littleton, Colorado school shooting, where they cowered behind their cars until all the shooting was over and the last child had been killed.
A weird analogy. The kids at the Littleton school (Columbine) weren't exactly tempered 5-year olds. If you were outmatched by a couple of punks with fully automatic weapons, I'm sure you'd be cowering behind an object too.
Strange post... cowards? Don't think so, just tired of kids running the roost, and what happens when they shoot little johnny??? Police get a raw deal, they did the right thing in this instance, but should have taken the child straight to Social Services and let them deal with the idiot mother.