people will never understand whats its like to be in their shoes unless they do it. A cop has to judge capability, oppurtunity and intent.

Handling dynamic encounters is in our DNA. It's been a part of life for most of human history. Anyone who has ever lived or worked in a sketchy area has had to judge capability, opportunity and intent.

Intent and opportunity are pretty easy to decide when dealing with a suspect who is unwilling to cooperate. Capability fills the last piece of that nice recipe when they become violent or have a weapon.

With all due respect, that "standard" can justify anything you want it to. "Unwilling to cooperate" = deviating or appearing to deviate in any way from the script in the officer's head which apparently failed to anticipate the possibility of a person putting their hands up or reaching for papers when instructed to do so. So under this "standard", the fact that an officer was jittery or failed to reasonably anticipate that a person would put their hands up or reach for papers when instructed to do so = "unwilling to cooperate". The fact a person is legally carrying (or suspected of carrying) a firearm is "capability". If "unwilling to cooperate" + "capability" = justified shooting, you've just articulated a standard under which an officer can legally shoot someone for exercising their constitutional rights because the officer wasn't thinking clearly.

Cops are only people, but people who have to think about these things on 12 hour shifts.

Our men and women in uniform are people too. They are still expected to adhere to the highest standards of professional conduct. Cops are only people, but if a person can't handle the pressures of their job environment (legal armed citizens) without exhibiting poor judgment, they should probably look for another job.