All things considered, the deputy deserves some punishment too unless
the SUV actually crashed into him.

as if cops accept that excuse when it isn't them being cut off. they
just ticket the person who got cut off with failure to reduce speed to
avoid a collision.

Sadly, this is true.

A few weeks ago, I witnessed some old broad blow through a stop sign
right in front of a police car. I was about 100 yards back (behaving
myself) and I could clearly see the cop car nosedive as he applied
brakes. I figured that the flashing lights would appear momentarily.

Nope. The old lady, with the cop following close behind, just slowed
down to about 30 MPH (in a 45 zone). I passed them both and saw in my
read view that the cop eventually got bored following her and passed her
as well.

In Washington State, you can practically get away with murder. As long
as you don't speed.