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in other words you believe that no law-abiding citizen ever has to confront a threatening criminal? That only happens to police because they're pulling people over?

No. When a policeman pulls me over I am very careful to appear non-threatening and I punctuate my sentences with sir. I avoid giving an officer any reason to think I am a threat, because I am not a treat. A policeman pulling over a drunk on public roads is a different matter than a citizen defending his own property. I would never pull over for someone who is not a police officer while travelling on public roads. It sounds like the driver was not only too drunk to drive a vehicle, he was unable to know how to behave, or he was afraid he would be convicted of DWI and panicked.

You are pointedly avoiding the implication: that a citizen might, at some point, be in fear for his or her life, no matter what the circumstance (whether it is at home, on the street, in a store, in a parking lot, wherever) but if they were to take action in the manner that these police did, even if the guy actually *did* have a gun, they would likely be arrested and charged with manslaughter or murder. There is a double standard between what police may do in defense of their lives and what private citizens may do.