That's a complete non-sequitur. Assuming they're alcoholics is pretty racist and, even if they are, doesn't even begin to justify these actions by police.

Of course it doesn't justify it. But it's absolutely the rationale they tell themselves.

Worth noting from a cold climate survival perspective that alcohol and a long walk in the cold is a death sentence. Your body will normally constrict bloodflow to the extremities, significantly reducing heat loss. Alcohol counteracts that. It makes you feel warm, in the same way that the final stages of hypothermia make you feel warm.

Yes I always wonder how commonly known this interaction is and how easily lethal. Where I grew up there was still a lot of stigma against openly committing suicide. But a handful of our fathers and grandfathers had "gone hunting" at night in january with a bottle of whiskey and predictable outcomes. If it's reliable and deniable enough for suicide it'll work fine for police murder too.