Question regarding the ending...

He fought them because he was feeling depressed and powerless because he had noone in the states. In a way it was suicide by cop, he wasnt trying to get away. like he said before, the only reason why he robbed the banks was to crumble the (apartheid) system, as he had nothing against the us government he wouldnt have robbed banks there. I dunno about real life but thats what the movie seemed to be trying to portray.

I agree with kurupt_minds. Plus, maybe it had something to do with the fact that the policeman who ordered him out of his car was black? Maybe Stander - despite for his dislike of the apartheid system - was so conditioned that when he saw a black cop giving him orders (as opposed to white cops harrassing black South Africans he was used to) he had some sort of a short circuit in his mind?

i thought the ending was meant to represent the full circle,

in south africa, stander was a cop who opened fire on an unruly black person.

this event messed him up so much he became the bank-robbing stander. eventually he went to the US where he thought he would have a quiet life.

but he was still screwed up, and so had become the "unruly black south african". only this time the roles were reversed, with a south african killing stander (a white man).

Didn't you see that he INTENTIONALLY ran a red light in FRONT of the cops? And he reacted violently when a cop, which he was and which he hated, was patting him down. It was suicide by cop.

Funny thing is, there seem to be two divergent theories of how Stander died. The movie presents the less elaborate and less action-friendly of the two, believe it or not.

"There is no Seyser Koze!!!" Gabriel Byrne blunder while filming The Usual Suspects.

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Events leading to his death

While Stander remained in the United States, international arrest warrants and all points bulletins were issued for his arrest. Trying to make the best of the situation, Stander created the false identity of an Australian author named "Peter Harris" and forged a driver's license. Afterwards, he visited a used car lot and purchased a Ford Mustang from a dealer named Anthony Tomasello. On 10 February 1984, police pulled Stander over while he was driving and arrested him for driving an unregistered vehicle. Being relatively unknown to the American authorities at that time, Stander presented his false ID to the police, who recognized it as a forgery and subsequently seized it (adding driver's license forgery to his list of offenses) but believed his story about his identity and released him. Once released on the same evening, Stander returned to the police impound lot where his seized Mustang was being kept, broke in and stole the car. On the following morning, Stander returned to the same used car lot where he had purchased the vehicle and asked the same dealer, Tomasello, to have the car re-painted in a different colour. However, Tomasello had just read about the Stander Gang in a local newspaper. He told Stander that he would help him, got his information, and as soon as Stander had left, Tomasello called his lawyer. On his lawyer's advice, Tomasello called the local police.
Based on Tomasello's information, a police tactical unit surrounded the apartment that Stander had been using as a hideout, but Stander wasn't there. He had acquired a bicycle to use while his car was with Tomasello to be repainted. He had left the apartment on the bicycle and returned only after the police had surrounded it. As he unknowingly rode up to the apartment complex, officer Michael van Stetina (who had been posted on the perimeter) recognised Stander and attempted to stop him. Stander tried to get away, but as Stetina prevented his escape a struggle for the officer's shotgun began. The gun discharged and Stander was hit; he fell onto the apartment complex's driveway, bleeding profusely. Stetina immediately radioed for an ambulance. Although officer Stetina tried to administer first aid, Stander's wounds were too extensive and he bled to death before an ambulance to arrived.