Merely having a knife in your posession isn't a crime, or shouldn't be anyway. Running is also no crime. There were many avenues open to these cops that they didn't take, one I already mentioned, the second would be too wait until he got closer, if he was charging, and all of them use their night sticks on him, disarming him first.
He was killed with no violent act committed by him and I always have a problem with that. Had he been armed with a gun and pointed it at the cops, fine, but pointing a knife doesn't have quite the danger aspect of pointing a gun.
Until I here more of this story, if ever, I will say these cops were not justified in shooting a man armed with a knife in this situation, unlike the story of the guy killing his sisters when killing him saved the life of one of the sisters.
Fearing he might enter the businesses at the intersection, police tried to cut off the man, who had run the one-mile uphill distance in about 13 minutes, the lieutenant said. The man then raised the knife and charged at the officers. Four officers opened fire with their pistols, firing at least six shots. The man fell, mortally wounded.
Seems justified to me.
A person with a knife can cover at least 21 feet of distance before a skilled gun handler can clear leather and get an (one) aimed shot off. Service pistols are not nuclear weapons, and quite often do not result in one-shot stops, particularly with those on drugs or mentally ill. So when your first shot either misses, or fails to stop the assailant as he rushes you and cuts your throat, you’ll have a few seconds before expiring to congratulate yourself on your restraint.