My thoughts, randomly... Should he have used a taser - was there a safer option available? - Hitting her head was not intentional - Any other method he chooses to stop her running (tackling her, baton or something like that) is just as likely to make he hit hear head - She was high on drugs, so allowing her to run towards the main road would be more dangerous. - I believe hitting her head was a freak accident brought on by the officer stopping her running. Just as likely regardless of how he stops her. Was it that important to stop her? - She was a hit/run suspect high on drugs escaping from a police station. I believe the officer had the rigth to stop her escape. - The fact that she was cuffed is troubling on the face of it, but she had slipped the cuffs to the front so she could run faster. All in all... The officer has a duty to stop her fleeing arrest, and she force him into a situation where he had to stop her. His chosen method was effective and generaly considered to be safe - however resulted in a freak accident. Most telling to me... If she had not hit her head then this would be just another taser deployment. The officer can't blamed for a freak accident. Difficult situation, but it was all the girl's doing. He series of actions (taking drugs, driving, crashing, running, slipping the cuffs and fleeing the police) were the ultimate cause of her demise.