Killerweed has a good point about regular folks being afraid to talk to a cop out of fear of being mistaken for a threat ect. I've been i a very similar situation myself, luckily neither me or my brother was killed, but we did have six cops all armed (two with shotguns) holding us at gunpoint on our parents front lawn just because we were driving our buddys car and they thought one of us was him. One of the cops covering my brother even tried to get him to say he was our friend after answering that he was not. Imagine your name is Tom Shaw and when you say that to the cop he says "Did you say Jerry Thompson?" Those names arent the real ones but you get the idea.
Its stuff like this that leads average people to fear and distrust cops. I've even known people who will lie to a cop about who they are even though they have nothing to hide. I guess its just out of general pricipal but it speaks to the mentality that most people have regarding law enforcement. "Just can't trust em."
Also stuff like this isn't helping the future generation either. I'd give pretty good odds on the chance that the guys kid who is due in Dec will be instilled with a healthy fear of police even before the kid has any real interaction with cops. How would you feel about the force of stone-faced, blue-suited warriors who gunned down your father in your backyard, and in what ammounts to cold blood?

I won't pretent to know what kind of stress a cop has to deal with on a daily basis, but they seem to go through their day thinking that anyone is a potential threat, and it leads to a real "us vs them" mentality that's been adopted both by cops and civilians. That situation doesn't seem necissary, and it's certainly not healthy, for anyone.