I saw the video on the news. The helicopter was tracking him on FLIR. The perp could clearly be seen. The officers in pursuit were in dark allies or back yards and having to use flashlights to see. Tough and scary situation to be in tactically, and dangerous had the perp actually been armed. It’s very easy to have your adrenaline up when you’ve already been in pursuit. This was not a repeat of the Vegas Costco shooting. I can see how the officers might have been in fear of life had the misidentified cell phone been a gun. That said, it didn’t look good that the cops muted the cameras.
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=u0XGz_1521674747
2 body cams and the helicopter footage
That is a huge understatement.
I seriously question why the cop's cameras have a mute button. They should not be able to mute them.
And an attempt to mute or in any way defeat a body camera should be met with an immediate firing plus a legal presumption of guilt.
The guy was caught in a criminal act and attempted to flee. The rules should be that those circumstances the cops have great leeway in believing that any aggressive act could be a serious threat. But, when they hide what they are doing, which is what happens when they mute the recording, the rules change.
That sounds to me like a conspiracy and a cover-up from the beginning.