Agreed.
But it isn't a binary situation. The choice isn't between supporting the police or supporting Dorner. You can condemn Dorner for his cold blooded murder spree and condemn the police for the improper use of deadly force during the manhunt.
After all, the police also shot two innocent people in their vehicle. Sure, they didn't kill them, but it wasn't for lack of trying. 60 rounds in one vehicle is a tad excessive, and seems to indicate that the police involved did not even try to take the (misidentified) suspect(s) alive.
There was improper use of deadly force that first night, in the initial hours after the first two murders and discovery of his threat to kill police officers and their families.
That vehicle, being driven by the two women delivering newspapers - that happened in the pre-dawn hours of that night. It was being driven slowly down the street where one of Dorner's primary targets lived with his family,
with its lights off, and then it stopped in front of the house in question. I would suspect that fact alone would cause me a great deal of consternation, if I were one of the people responsible for guarding the lives in that house. I suspect I also wouldn't want to provide Dorner with the opportunity to get past me in the dark and get at his planned victims.
All that of course does not excuse not announcing their presence and demanding that the person(s) in the vehicle get out of the vehicle and down on the ground (or whatever the proper protocol is in such a situation), if the reports that that was not done are true.
At the very least, that situation was mishandled, and should be investigated thoroughly. When I heard about it, my reaction was that it was some extremely nervous officers who were over-reactive. That of course doesn't excuse anything, and they simply may not have the presence of mind to deal with emergencies and therefore shouldn't be cops.
The number of rounds shot frankly doesn't make me question anyone's motives - once someone started shooting, it would be extremely difficult for everyone else to realize where the shots were coming from, and not unusual to think that fire was being exchanged. (That, BTW, is why I'm nervous about a bunch of people walking around with guns. I don't think most people realize how many shootings, even in the context of trained personnel such as the military and law enforcement, are the result of *friendly fire*.)
The other gunfire that night was by an officer responding to calls for assistance from the cops on scene where the newspaper delivery people were being shot at. He too was over-reactive, when he assumed he was encountering Dorner fleeing from that scene. (BTW, IMO that corroborates how much all of that was the result of confusion and fear reactions, not some plan at assassination.)
I haven't seen/read anything that I would question about police reactions after that first night, other than the one officer who was obviously upset/angry/afraid under fire on that last day.
