You write without thinking, don't you? You do realize that "most police actions" are everyday, mundane tasks, like pulling over traffic violators and responding to 911 calls. Do you mean, instead, "more justified than most controversial police actions"? Because I beg to differ on even that point.
This whole event was nothing more than a poorly executed excuse to run a "drug-bust" style raid by an increasingly paramiliatarized police force that employs angry white men with inferiority complexes. Ultimately, it was just plain bad police work. What they essentially attempted to do, was corner an armed, dangerous, and desperate fugitive in a room full of innocent bystanders. Luckily he wasn't there.
The way I see it, this mode of "police action" occurs for two reasons: 1) Cops want to avoid appearing inept if the fugitive possibly escapes (hence eliminating all possibilities of failure that they have control over in a given situation, even at the expense of public safety); and 2) It's a chance to employ their increasingly disproportionate emphasis on military style police tactics, which have to have a purpose, right?