I want you to look at the photo. That is the UPS truck up front and (visible) 24 law enforcement vehicles from 9 agencies chasing after it.

This was a Far East Fire Drill (apparently I cannot say Chinese Fire Drill anymore) in the making and proven true at the end of the chase when the UPS driver and a bystander ended up dead.

Yes, the bad guys had already proven they were dangerous: they were armed, shot an employee of the jewelry store and kidnaped a civilian to escape authorities, but this was police overkill.

I do not know who shot who and I will not comment on that till the investigation is done. But there is no excuse for this posse attitude from the agencies. At least two agencies (Broward Sheriff and Miami-Dade PD) have helicopters that could have followed the truck and the suspects and the cops be distributed in a way that anticipated the kidnapers.

I have the strange feeling that nobody was talking to anybody else (including up and down the respective chains of command) and in the best South Florida tradition, this was a Greyhound race that ended up with the bunny dead.