I'm not an expert in police tactics, but I didn't see much wrong with what the officer did. He stopped his vehicle to the outside of the driver's vehicle, protecting himself from a sideswipe by an inattentive motorist. He walked up the side of the driver's vehicle while shining his flashlight on the driver, observing his movements. When the driver appeared to be cooperating, he relaxed and moved his flashlight away, pointing it down toward the ground. The driver appeared to be cooperating when suddenly
he pulled a .41 magnum revolver on the officer. The officer reacted by pushing the driver's arm away possibly saving his life had the gun fired. He then took evasive action while drawing his weapon, turned and returned fire rapidly, then slower and even slower as the vehicle drove away. He fired 14 times; 7 in rapid succession, then four, then three.
The officer himself found
eight things that he did wrong.
He held his flashlight in his gun hand
His positioning in the window was too close
He reacted to Davis’ challenge of the stop
He was aware he couldn’t see the motorist’s right hand
He backed up when he first saw the gun (instead of moving to the rear of the vehicle)
For a millisecond, he believed that Davis was joking
He was told that Davis was a “nice guy”
He approached the motorist thinking, “It’s just a DUI”