It seems these days that people criticize the police for everything that they do, sometimes to the point of absurdity.

Watch (as well as you can) and listening to the audio of the encounter between Carrollton Police Corporal Chad Cook and Kenneth Joel Dothard. I’d like for critics to tell us what other practical, reasonable action the officer had when a man with a felony attempted to draw a gun on the officer.

According to a spokesperson with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the officer responded to the area of the Community Southern Bank on Bankhead Highway in Carrollton after police received a call about a man with a gun around 9:17 p.m.

Carrollton Police Corporal Chad Cook located a man fitting the description, later identified as Kenneth Joel Dothard, 40, near the intersection of Bankhead Highway and Burns Road.

When Cook approached Dothard, he noticed he had a gun in a holster, police said.

Cook called in on his radio to the Carroll County 911 Center to do an information check on Dothard and then called for a backup unit.

Dothard became agitated when he heard the corporal call for back-up and Dothard put his hand on his gun, police said.

Police said Cook tried to physically restrain Dothard’s hands and gave him verbal commands to not draw his weapon.

Dothard did not comply with the verbal commands, according to police, and began to draw his weapon. Cook fired two rounds striking Dothard in the head. Dothard died at the scene.

The interaction between the two men was quite amiable until Cook figured out that Dothard was a felon in possession of a weapon and called for backup, at which point Dothard decided that he was going to go for his gun. Coropral Cook physically impeded Dothard’s attempt to draw the .38 Special, and warned Dothard to stop attempting to draw his weapon. When Dothard continued attempting to draw his gun, Cook drew his own sidearm and fired two shots in self-defense.

What else could he Cook have done?

Dothard had two felony drug convictions, and could not legally possess a firearm.