Thank you. I've got a better handle on the phrase now...
To put that back in context of the video, what I think you're saying is that the deputy would have been better off to have been out of the car before the attacker got that close. By the time she got out, she could only move backward -- there was no opportunity for her to advance on him.
Am I thinking about this correctly?
Rule of thumb, the cops feet always hits the pavement first. She is lucky she was lucky.