Warning shots are not authorized, because what goes up must come down somewhere. Besides, firing a firearm, wherever it may be aimed, is using deadly force and there's only one justification for the use of deadly force.
And aren't these cops trained to assess these types of situations in seconds so that they don't have to use deadly force? If not, then ol' Barney shouldn't be carrying a firearm.
Shoot/don't shoot training, using laser or IR guns, is fairly common and has been for as long as I remember. Please note I am not a LEO, but have been peripherally in that community for a while. (Emergency management volunteer communications...)
Thanks for clarifying but I should have been clearer. I was thinking more of a shot into the ground near the dog before it approached. (If it did at all, which isn't extremely clear from the video.)
And what is the range of 50 or so shotgun pellets fired into the air? Certainly not that of a round even as small as a .22. Even if he did loose a round into the air, the area of the traffic stop looked to be fairly remote...on the side of a highway...no lights from any structures. There looked to be a lot of "somewhere" out there. Still, better safe than sorry? Who can say?
I am not a LEO either but my father-in-law is a 30 year police veteran, now retired. He spent most of those years on the street in New York. He has seen the video and also shares my opinion, which is this:
The officer panicked and fired. Period. He should be disarmed and removed from contact with the local citizenry. To defend his actions and hold him up as an example of a normal law enforcement officer, just doing his job, does a disservice to all other police officers with a brain...or a backbone.