Long ago I read up and studied stressors and adrenaline. The academic part of martial arts studies. One little part of that is the “fight in the dog” aphorism. The point being our cop might have been a very angry man before a word was spoken.

Did it strike anyone else that grabbing a large suspect from inside the vehicle is one bone headed move? How can you get out to put cuffs on? You don’t have control. I mean okay you grab the guy, then what?

To me this suggests straight out rage right from the first few seconds, let alone after a physical struggle or getting clipped by a punch or a window frame.

Then it just snowballs, anger, pain, adrenaline, the gunfire sending more threat messages to the brain… Compromised hearing. How can you hear a surrender over your own gunfire and temporary deafness? Ever shoot a .40 caliber handgun without ear protection? Even 9mm is pretty bad. Remember the reported first shot was inside the vehicle, the sound would really hit hard.

As far as I can tell this was a police induced rage boner FUBAR from the first physical touch of Brown.