Bad Time for the Clock to Stop

[Coach Bill]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

The officials don't have a video replay monitor or atomic clocks in their heads. If the timer screws up, the officials can only do their human best to correct it.
ALL of the blame in such situations goes to the timer.

I'm asking are u sure the timer screwed up? He looks up after he starts his count and sees 5.3 (so, maybe ~5.8 when he started), then he counts a little fast (~4.5 seconds), that gives u 1.3. Pretty close to 1.6. The OP never said the clock stopped before his whistle, just that he looked up and saw the clock stopped at 1.6. I don't think there was definite knowledge of any error. I don't think one can accurately mark a running clock to the tenths of a second. And, who knows what the visible count was? 4.9, 5.1, 4.5, 5.5?

If he knows the timer stopped it before his whistle, then ok, fix it. Otherwise, like you said, no atomic clock in his head, the time may have continued to run until he blew his whistle. I.e., no error.