An Ohio police officer is being praised for holding his fire even as a murder suspect charged towards him, shouting: “Shoot me! Shoot me!”

Jesse Kidder’s refusal to use lethal force – he suspected that the man was trying to commit “suicide by cop” – came in stark contrast to recent examples of more trigger-happy policing in the United States, although sceptics suggested it might have ended differently if the suspect had been black.

Mr Kidder, a decorated former Marine who served two tours in Iraq, was wearing a bodycam that captured the scene as 27-year-old Michael Wilcox ran towards him, forcing him to run backwards while keeping his gun trained on the suspect.

The officer had been warned that Mr Wilcox, who has now