&gt; Can someone point me to what exactly did police officers do wrong in this story?<p>Preparing to draw their guns was probably the first thing. If you want to make someone afraid for their life, prepare the tool you can use to end it.<p>The second is probably the corralling of the gentleman by multiple officers.<p>We know that Police officers are told that their primary goal is to &quot;get home at night&quot;. We know that they regarded this gentleman as a threat; his intelligent handling of the situation when frightened for his life is probably the one thing that saved him. &quot;May I reach for my id&quot; instead of just grabbing for it. Removing his hands from his pockets... it&#x27;s not hard to see how this could have gone very, very wrong.