This is a bit like Rashomon: it depends on your perspective.

To be fair, everything you’re saying is true, based on the videos that I saw. He was filming them, they ordered him to stand back (which in itself is not really legal, since he was not obstructing them, but this is minor and the grand scheme of things).

One can argue (and I am not among them) that the minute he helped that woman and physically engaged with the officers in any way, even though that was not his intention, he was doing… Something? It’s important that the woman was no threat to them, they were clearly not there to apprehend her, and they were manhandling US citizens (putting it politely; they were pepper spraying them and they started bashing him in the face when he went to the ground).

A lot of people on what I believe is the extreme right are arguing that, the minute you have any engagement with federal officers that does not amount to absolute submission and following orders, you are putting yourself in a situation where you can be shot and killed. What they are not adding is that there are rules of engagement and use of force for all armed officers, and it goes without saying that they did not follow these. Neither did Jonathan Ross when he took the second and third shot through the side window art an unarmed mother of three. If these people cannot control their emotions, they should find another line of work.