When I was growing up, I was taught that if a cop said "Stop" you stopped. It was understood - even somewhat expected - that he may well shoot you if ran from him. If you ran, you could OF COURSE be shot in the back as that is the target you chose to offer him as you were defying his legal authority. Whether or not he was justified (in your mind) to detain you, you were (are) obligated to obey. There was, naturally, something of a fear factor but the main reason you stopped was respect for the law. Whether or not you respected (or even knew) the cop, you stopped because the UNIFORM told you to.
If an individual runs from a Cop after being told by him (her) to stop, he does - at that point - becomes a Fugitive from the Law, regardless of what they may or may not have done previously. Running from the law makes you a fugitive, by definition. As such, what does one expect? (A fugitive from the law has no rights. Technically, anyone can shoot a fugitive at any time with legal impunity. No s**t! Just ask a no-bulls**t sherrif.)
If he is -supposedly - a "good kid," then why have they not been taught a respect for authority?
Whether or not the individual in the uniform deserves respect is a moot point; the uniform does. If the cop shot someone in the front, and that person was not endangering the cop or anyone else, that would be worthy of a civic uproar. But, if the cop says to stop and the subject runs, what are we to expect? The cop has a tough job to do, and that job requires a certain amount of cooperation from the population they are supposed to help protect. If you choose to ignore the unarmed Mall "Rent-a-Cops," and continue to play on the escalators, then you're just a spoiled brat whose parents obviously failed to teach their children how to behave. (No offense to the "Mall Cops;" they have a tedious and thankless job, and deserve no less than our respect. Been there, done that.) But, if an armed Police Officer calls you down and you're stupid enough to run from him, well, you chose to take the chance of being stopped and it's YOUR OWN FAULT. Deal with it. If you're the parents of such a shooting victim, YOU FAILED as a parent, so DEAL WITH IT. Society as an entity did not father the child, nor carry and birth it, and so society is NOT responsible for the FAILURE of the PARENTS to raise a viable citizen from your offspring.
It DOES NOT take a village to raise a child. It takes just one caring parent that actually gives a damned about that child - one parent that cares enough to teach the child respect for authority - to make that child a productive member of society rather than another belligerent statistic that gets "its" day in the news, giving activists, and the parent, an opportunity to carry on publicly.
