[Masterful1]

but he was running away!

Exactly... He was running from cops!  Mistake Number One..  Don't run from cops... if you didnt do anything wrong, let your lawyer hash that out.  PLUS, he was running while pointing something at the officers in a stance like he had a gun, making the officers feel THEIR lives were being threatened.

just stay behind your car and guard perimeter till its safe distance. i work in law enforcement, and i think they clearly fucked it up, because they ended up being face to face with him.

What perimeter?  This guy was LEAVING the scene!  You don't establish a perimeter around a suspect, who has unknown weapons, where bullets can go flying in ANY direction, killing multiple civilians in the area.  You establish a LINE of barrier protection, using your vehicle and yourself as the target of attention for the suspect, minimizing the chance of a civilian getting targeted or hit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a typical police basher, in this case it's possible they were under the impression he was armed. This incident just made me wonder about the lack of limits (in my opinion) US society sets for law enforcement.

There are TOO many limits placed on law enforcement in my opinion.  But, we can agree to disagree here, guys....  I'm not mad here, I guess I just have a different perspective from you guys about what happened and/or what is acceptable.