I get the fact that you abhor cops - you've made that abundantly clear over the years. I don't share your distaste, and the fact we differ on that is perfectly OK.
Actually what I abhor are double standards. I have far too many people in my life who have chosen 'police officer' as their vocation for me to categorically hate cops. What I hate is the double standard purpetuated by The Thin Blue Line in order to justify actions of one of their own that would draw a completely different reponse from them if the offense was committed by a civilian.
But let me ask you -- how much more beating with a padlock and a cable should the civilian woman have taken before lethal force was used to take down the perp? Let's keep in mind we don't know the whole story -- we never do in a report like this. We don't know the layout, we don't know all the facts, and we certainly aren't any kind of jury.
The incident took place in a clothing store. Almost all of us have been in one, and we know that the walls of a dressing room are intended for a modicum of privacy only: otherwise they may as well be constructed of kleenex, because they aren't load bearing, and they sure as hell aren't bulletproof.
That said, we know that the officers sight lines were significantly obscured by the location: again, I will assert that -almost- any of us in that situation would be counseled by our inner range master to hold fire, because we know dressing room walls are thin, we know that just because we can't see thru that wall, doesn't mean there wouldn't be somebody on the other side of it, and (in this specific situation) we know that we're a cop with better tools on our belts - ::cough:: Tazers ::cough:: for dealing with the perp without risking collateral damage to bystanders.
A simple in your head probability calculation would tell us that since this was not the first victim the perp assaulted with the bike lock, that none of the others were fatally injured in his attacks (speaking more to his capability with the weapon he was using than his intent), and that this woman had already survived his attack with the same bike lock thus far, the probability that he would have fatally injured her in the additional seconds it would take to maneuver into position to use a Tazer on him would be remarkably low.
But this officer wasn't thinking through the problem - like they are constantly quoted expecting us to do - was he?