That's well known. Hacks and cops are a mutual hatred society.
What I simply do not believe is that police officers would risk their jobs by doing something as ridiculous as making a hack pay money to a mugger.
If they were going to risk getting fired it would be to do something that profited themselves. This story makes no logical sense at all.
Also, if the cops came to a house where there was a burglar and an armed homeowner, they would not let the burglar go free.
They would arrest the burglar for burglary and arrest the homeowner for unlicensed possession of a weapon.
Why would a cop, who measures his promotions in arrests that stick, not make an arrest like that? It would be a layup conviction for him. Two easy collars for one incident.
This is yet another scenario where you imagine cops engaging in behavior that would be directly contrary to their own interests.
I have to read what I wrote again, I am in a rush though about to go out, but I am pretty sure I did not mention a mugging for the guy who had to pay.
The one the cops forced to pay was the cabbie who drove someone to the Bronx, and the customer he drove tried to run without paying the fare which was $30. So the cabbie ran after him and tackled him and beat him up and held him till the cops arrived. And when they did, they made the cabbie pay the guy who tried to run $100 because they said he assaulted him.