eating with, hanging out with, mingling with? are u kidding? A MLB beat writer does these things, so sure he may know the ball players personalities etc, but bet you he still knows nothing about hitting a 96 MPH fastball in the middle of action or the game. Your argument is plain silly.
Unless you think he is outright lying, you can't really tell him what his experience has been.
I mean there is a problem in this country with law enforcement being overly aggressive. Yeah it does suck sweating that this loon might have a gun but you can't just pop him 3 times all the time. Some are justified, some aren't but we should all be able to agree when watching these videos that a lot aren't justified and err on the side of a little too proactive.