Sam2,
If that is “what police are supposed to do in this situation” there is a serious problem with police protocol. That’s a shoot first and ask questions later philosophy which unnecessarily gets people killed. How many people who are planning on shooting cops tell the cops in advance that they have a legal gun? Also it is very likely that the cop asked him for his license and registration already, that is the first thing they ask for. The cop panicked and a man is dead. It is incredibly tragic.
I don’t think, however, that this is racial thing except for maybe in the sense that blacks get pulled over more. There are too many cops around for all of them to be good at their jobs and there are plenty of unarmed white (and other races) people that get killed by cops as well. But there is definitely a perception out there that this happens only to black people or at least far more frequently to black people. It is this perception that has fueled violence against police, creating a cycle of violence where the police are more nervous and therefore more likely to kill people.