Absolutely rediculous, I have knifes that I can throw very accurately up to 40-50 feet. Cops are not there to engage in fair fights, they need to keep the upper hand if possible. If a burglar was in my home with a knife, the last thing I would give this bozo is a fair fight, I would drop him like a bad habit with one of my guns.
One of my LE buddies also got into a situation similar to this. To make a long story short, my cop buddy and his partner are called to check out a house, they find the perp hiding in a bedroom closet. They tell him to come out, and he does, with a knife in his hand. Refuses to drop the knife and takes a step in their direction. Both cops blast away into the perp, my buddy carries a glock 9mm, his partner has a S&W 9mm. Partner shoots 8 times, not a single hit, my friend fires 12 times and hits the perp 6 times. Perp goes down but takes 4 days to die. All this takes place in a small bedroom with shooting under 10 feet. It's a good shoot and the perp (homeless guy) has no family so no lawsuit. My friend is totally disgusted with his partner though and makes him shoot with us very weekend to improve his shooting skills.