The GF stated that he got pulled over for a broken tail light. He really got pulled over because he looked like the person on the video of a convenience store armed robbery just a few blocks away and only a few days earlier.
I think someone else pointed this out, but it's likely the "broken tail light" was simply a ruse to avoid spooking the driver.
Remember, the officer thought he might be a robbery suspect. Would it be advisable to walk up and confront someone that way?
If a LEO sees someone fitting a description of a robbery suspect and pulls the vehicle over, I can assure you the officer would not walk up and tell the occupants that as the reason they were pulled over.
They’d use a pretext...Something like “We pulled you over because your light is out”. You never want to walk up and alert a possibly suspect like that. A big no no.