I will agree that watching the video makes it appear excessive (and it very well could be). However, in Florida, fleeing and eluding is a felony crime. So the rider turned this from a traffic ticket into a felony, not the officers. Most folks who flee do so for a reason, they have something to hide or some reason they don't want to be caught. When you deal with the thugs of society day in and day out you quickly learn that they do not respond to a polite "sir, will you please turn around so I can arrest you". The threat of a pointed gun, a few 4 letter words, and being knocked to the ground is all they understand.
I don't have all the facts so I am cannot defend their actions, but because you don't have those facts either, I will speak my mind to those who would pass blame having no earthly idea what it is like to do this job. This is not 1960 anymore folks, watch the news, people kill each other every single day.
For example, in my job, we exercise scenarios of possible failure situations, and our responses to correct them. We
practice them, talk about them, and document the entire exercise, from beginning to end.
Well that is fantastic, but does any of those scenarios end with you dying if you don't make the right decision in a fraction of a second?
I know it is cheesy, but I think Col. Jessup summed it up quite nicely ......
A Few Good Man "You Can't Handle the Truth"