I never said it was an excuse. I know this is hard, but separate out the two people in this story. We can all agree that the Mom was a scumbag, however, at the point in time that Officer Yosemite Sam decided to send a "hail of bullets" her way, he could not have known that she was a) drunk, and b) a scumbag.
All of these sordid details came out later, and none of them are justification for discharging a firearm in a parking lot in the direction of 2 people. This could just have likely turned out that the Mom wasn't drunk, but just a really big b!tch which is also not a capital offense in California.
Apparently not since quite a few people on this thread tend to treat her rather heroically.
I'm sure the jury will determine the guilty party. This is a liberal state. If the cop is guilty, he will certainly pay. Double.