Some thing to consider
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-punch-to-head-is-potential-deadly.html
If you watch television and the movies, you might get the impression that a punch to the head is no big deal. That is not true. A punch to the head is a very serious attack. It can disable. It can maim. It can kill. The head is a vulnerable target, which is why an attacker aims for it. I first became aware of the deadly potential of one punch to the head in the 1970’s, from a long forgotten news story. Later, the son of a close friend killed a man with one punch. He was eventually found not guilty of manslaughter, but only after a long and expensive legal fight
If this guy is a retired cop then he’s been trained to treat blows to the head as deadly force, with a commensurate response. If he believed he was about to be struck in the head, I can understand his decision. Don’t know if I would’ve done the same.
CC