As a police officer I was taught that felony stops were conducted in the following manner:
One officer speaks through the PA system of a cruiser; he orders individuals one by one out of a vehicle by reaching out of the window and opening the door from the outside; he orders them to walk backwards with their hands over their heads to the sound of his voice; once the suspect reaches the open doors of the cruiser he is ordered to kneel or lay down; at this point another team of officers (two) handcuffs the individual while remaining behind the cover of the open doors; all the while other officers cover the vehicle and the suspect who is being ordered back to the cruisers.
This procedure severely cuts down on the chances of an accidental shooting such as the subject of this thread...and why the hell didn't the FBI use this standard procedure?????
The failure to use the proper felony stop procedure with the death of an innocent person resulting is IMHO the crux of the matter. Possible explanations are as follows:
The agents were not trained to use this felony stop procedure. This flies in the face of both statements from some FBI agents I have talked to and public statements from the FBI after the Miami shootout.
The agent on scene in charge of this team of agents decided not to use the felony stop procedures in which case that agent should also be facing charges.
There was no plan whatsoever to the stop and everybody was just making it up as they went along. If this is the case then there is a problem with the command responsibility and with all of the agents on site.
While the agent who pulled the trigger may be exhonorated from criminal liability if he was specifically ordered not to use felony stop procedures (that should be for a jury to decide). The agent who ordered the team to abjure felony stop procedures is then culpable in this matter.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown