Herewith a similar police chase story but with results far more tragic.
One reason the military does so many live-fire exercises is so everyone gets used to high-stress situations. Clearly here procedure was not followed... anticipate endless post-mortems.
On the topic of firearm safety, I have not noticed a lot of military veterans getting caught short like this. If nothing else you learn to keep the weapon pointed "downrange," safety on, and positive control. Worked with a cat (not a vet) who was killed on a camping trip, he was wearing a shoulder holster, leaned over the campfire, the weapon fell out into the fire and discharged. At least it was quick... he was dead before he hit the ground.