I can't believe they let it go for so long.  I could've hurt someone, what if it took down that pole?  The people filming were standing right next to the power lines.
I'm pretty sure police are usually trained to think of their cars as more or less expendable.  They will often use their cruiser to stop another car in a car chase (anyone who's ever watched COPS knows that).  So even if they were too afraid to jump in like that guy, they could have just driven their car in front of it.  It would be a minor fender bender and that would be it.  Over.  Done.  Problem solved.  This would actually be less dangerous than what that guy did.