Why is Officer Hastings on Trial?

Why is Officer Hastings on trial? We hire and train men and women to protect us from society’s meanest and worst, as well as from the "non-violent" outlaw. When a cop does answer the call in the dark of the night and gun fire erupts and an outlaw falls, society calls for some retribution against the cop. Why?

                A terrified citizen calls 911: “Burglary in progress. Send the cops!”

                Officer Hastings, first responder, arrives in the dark, to answer a citizen’s call about “outlaws” at work. He sees three men doing their unlawful deeds and, at risk of his own life, steps out and tells them “Stop!” True, the scene becomes murky. Three outlaws are in a moving vehicle; the officer stands exposed—literally a deer caught in the headlights—in front of the moving vehicle. Are they armed? Will they shoot? Will they run him over? Will they surrender?

                Surely the Police Training included  such information as: a running human can cover 20 feet in 2 seconds; a moving vehicle can cover over a hundred feet in 2 seconds. Standing alone, in the dark, Officer Hastings has less than two seconds to make a decision: dead cop hero, stop the outlaws, or let them go free to continue their career of crime. He fires.

                The result—a live cop and three outlaws now under police custody. Tragically one dies. Even more tragically, he was a teenager. Officer Hastings knew not their age, and in the dark, probably nothing else. He only knew that three outlaws were driving a 2,000 pound deadly weapon and in a horrific two seconds concluded they were moving forward to murder him.

                Why is Officer Hasting on trial? Maybe I’m prejudiced—I respect cops and their willingness to put on that badge every morning and go out to face society's worst, risking of their lives for me and mine.