I think it's his fault. If he hadn't ran from the Police in the first place, maybe he wouldn't have been shot. That cop might be playing a little too much lcpdfr.

Did he have another weapon in the car? Cause if he was on his way round to get it (just thinking up things here) either way he would've been shot. Even if they'd had a tazer or LTL shotgun, they wouldv'e had to have shot him as he got out due to how quickly he was moving (its always harder to hit a moving target.) Before he fell to the ground, what happened? He started shaking as if he'd been tazered?

You can't use lethal force because your health is threatened. You can only use it because a *life* is threatened. The formal standard is "reasonable officer would fear imminent death or grievous bodily harm" - a suspect running from the cops is NOT automatic justification to shoot. The only time you can shoot someone for running away is if their continued flight or their escape poses a significant threat to lives (e.g. suspected suicide bomber running towards a crowd, or a serial killer getting away).

You do not shoot arms or legs on purpose, unless you're a sniper in a static situation where you have time to line up a shot and have extreme confidence in it, and preferably have other officers prepared to kill the suspect if your shots don't hit their targets (and even then, it's really, really uncommon). a), you probably can't hit them [accuracy in fast-developing situations is abysmal for pretty much everyone, and the limbs are small, fast-moving targets]. b), if you miss you just sent bullets towards whatever's behind them. c), if you HIT you might send bullets behind them. Most importantly, d), you're not justified in using lethal force unless a reasonable officer could think that it was NECESSARY to protect a life. Shooting has to be a last resort, and shooting in the arm or leg means you aren't to your last resort yet (since if you had no way to stop them but by shooting, you'd be shooting center mass to kill).

Self-defense has degrees. You might be justified in hitting someone in self-defense, but until a life is at stake, you can't use lethal force. "Once they threaten health you can shoot them" isn't police law in the US. Here, outside of extremely controlled situations (e.g. hostage/suicide situations), if you shoot to maim, you're likely going to prison for assault with a deadly weapon - the fact that you're not shooting to stop them as quickly as possible means you weren't justified in shooting at ALL. Again: If you aren't at the point where you just need to stop them, and need to do so NOW, you aren't justified in shooting at all.