This is a great comment. For all the handwringing about what Ms. Bland should or should not have done, and what an officer is or is not allowed to do, we seem to forget that the officer's job is to protect and to promote public safety.

In all of the recent cases that have made the news, this question seems to go unposed, when it should be a litmus test WRT the overall approach to policing.

Instead, we have a culture that shifts the conversation to one about what the officer and victim each did as the situation escalated.

The problem you have here is you're presuming that the officers suspicions are invalid. If you're lawfully stopped and you act suspiciously shouldn't an LEO investigate further?

If the apparent exaggerated agitation was due to say drug-driving then the officer will have made a potential increase in the "safety and peace for the public". There is no way for them to find the facts without questioning the person and their refusal to comply peaceably makes it impossible.

If you're going to stop people for road-traffic offences, which does appear to increase safety, then do you really want LEO to let people off if they're obnoxious and evasive?