I’ll have to agree with FreeReign, there was no one there to protect.
Byrd executed Babbit.
He articulated no warning, he made no attempt to arrest, she had no weapon, she posed no threat.
Consider John Hinkley Jr’s attempt to assonate Ronald Reagan.
The Secret Service did not shoot him even though Hinkley had already fired multiple shots. They shielded Reagan with their bodies and tackled Hinkley to the ground.
Being a Capitol Hill cop does not give him the power to take a woman’s life without just cause. He has to obey the same laws as anyone else.
This case is a gross miscarriage of justice
The Secret Service did not shoot him even though Hinkley had already fired multiple shots.
Your Hinkley analogy would work better if Babbitt was a lone actor like Hinkley.
Byrd had just seen the mob overwhelm all of his compatriots and breach every obstacle meant to stop them.
It would make sense for him to try to subdue her if she was the only threat, but I suspect he felt he was the last line of defense and desperate measures were called for.
We obviously don’t know what he was thinking for sure but I seriously doubt his main concern was protecting himself from Ashli.