So burning him alive was an appropriate police response?
I won't disagree that it was an appropriate military response, but the military is never intended to maintain an enemy's civil order...
He had several opportunities to surrender didn't he? He chose not to, and the building was torched. I see no difference between this and the military torching the tobacco barn on Garrett's Farm where John Wilkes Booth and David Herold were hiding. Even after the barn was on fire, Booth refused to give up and planned to fight on. If it wasn't for Boston Corbett, Booth would have died of smoke inhalation, and burned to a crisp. And unless Dorner committed suicide before he caught fire, he probably died of smoke inhalation as well.