[William Tell]

thefactor said: "I'm saying he had a duty to do what he did. "

And yet hasn't the Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement have no duty to protect any individual?

What about the cop's duty to observe the rights of bystanders? Don't those count?

There certainly is such a think as interfering with a police officer performing his "duties", however this isn't one of them and thus the mention of such is irrelevant. The man recording the police should have been left alone.

[thefactor]

The way I understand it, it is the police officer's job to protect "society" or a town's, city's, or state's "way of life." That includes individuals, but of course cops are not bound to oversee every aspect of an individuals life and prevent bad things from happening to them.

In this case, however, there is an actual incident occurring. And police action is being taken. I've been in street-wide brawls. You have no idea who is with whom and who is on who's side. I've seen innocent bystanders hit with flying bottles/debris. The smart thing to do is clear the street. It's a lawful order. But people don't listen, and that's how they get hurt. And then everyone blames the cops for not taking control. It's lose/lose. Especially when you have hot-head cops being idiots.