We lose too many policemen when people wave things at them at night.
I do believe they should shoot first and ask questions later. I'm not sure if this guy required a fatal shot, but, police can't wait to see what people are waving at them or they hear a bullet to react.
On, "Cops", I remember a drunk or drugged women threatening a policeman with what turned out to be a cell phone. No one was harmed.
Was she threatening to call the cops on him?