Dave Stengel reverses himself, says prosecutor Matt Conway was disciplined

That should have said didnt see the gun prior to shooting the fleeing felon in the back....

There is something called a "gut feeling" that sometimes supersedes seeing. Some Officers (The good ones) develop it after dealing with enough scum bags over the years. When you get the feeling that a SB has a weapon and then confirm it you have developed a "gut feeling". When this process is repeating over and over, you count on that feeling and fear not acting on it. (Fear of Death) When the SB was searched during that particular incident, he actually had a weapon where he was reaching, imagine that. Ky law states you may use deadly force to protect your life if you "believe" that your are in danger of death or serious physical injury from a person. Police departments, including the one MM worked for, have adjusted their policy to state the same statement except the word "believe" includes a lengthy definition of the word through the eyes of administrators and politicians that allow blame to be shifted to the Officer if the incident looks unfavorable or it receives a lot of negative media, or in the case of MM there is political pressure to "do something". That is why he was acquitted of the charges criminally, which the Commonwealth Attorney (being an attorney) knew would happen (because no crime was committed) but felt compelled to indict under pressure from "certain groups". He (MM) was terminated because of pressure and the "definition of believe" in the policy. He (MM) later was awarded an undisclosed amount of money and reinstated and then quietly left as part of the agreement. It was the Police Dept. way of saying "Sorry here is a lot of cash because we were wrong, but we still can't let you back on the depart". Hopefully this will enlighten you. There is saying in Police work that goes "D@#ned if you do, and D@#ned if you don't. The DO is you might end up like MM, the DON"T is you might be dead. Make your choice!