It's not a distraction at all, it is in fact cutting to the bone of the argument - the article is using that statistic to push the point of view that things are

It's not a distraction at all, it is in fact cutting to the bone of the argument - the article is using that statistic to push the point of view that things are worse than we've all accepted, and TeMPOraL is pointing out that in a better world, that statistic would look even worse. So this article adds absolutely nothing to the discussion. If we want to talk about the serious issue in America, let's talk about the number of unjustified homicides committed by police versus by others. I and most people don't care one shred about situations where a criminal is pointing a gun at another person and gets shot, that's exactly what should happen, and in many or most police shootings that's the way it goes down. Those make up a big part of the number in this article. FWIW I'm not disagreeing that abuses by police are a serious problem in America, I think they are, and we need to do something about that, and it goes much deeper than just when they kill. Using shoddy numbers to promote awareness is counterproductive, though, because anyone who doesn't already agree with the conclusion will immediately see what's wrong with the argument, and dig their heels in deeper. There are enough real statistics to talk about (BLM has done a great job promoting those, so I won't dig them up here) that we don't need to resort to misleading linkbait ones.