As I said, I think the ‘slap’ was a bit over the line. BUT, the guy was trying to grab him, and the officer said “Don’t touch me”.
That slap is probably what will cause the officer to be in trouble.
As for being ‘pushed down’, that came after the man struggled with the cop, which happened behind the supporting beam. The man tried to grab the cop, and the cop shoved him away.
I do not approve of ‘everything’ the cop did, but I don’t think the man was as ‘innocent’ as the article tries to claim.
Even the people who had were videoing the incident noticed that the cop pulled some hypodermic syringes out of the man’s pocket. Maybe he was a diabetic, but nothing has been said about that.
As far as the ‘restroom’ thing, the man wasn’t heading to the restroom. He was heading to the bushes to ‘pee’ and the cop said he wasn’t going to let him do it.
Two people appeared to be in the ‘wrong’ on this. First, the ‘homeless’ man who was illegally sleeping on the bench at the bus station and refused to do what the cop asked (leave the premises) and used profanity, and fought back against the cop.
Second was the officer using physical force (the slap) in a questionable situation.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
In the video I watched, Officer Beat Me Friendly grabbed the guy first. Twice. Then, suddenly, "touching" was NOT OK.
Apparently, in your world, there is no such thing as assault by a confrontational polices.
He didn’t try to grab the officer. He tried to wrest his arm out of the cop’s grip and pushed at his arm, which had grabbed him. The cop had no right to grab the old man’s arm and manhandle him. You’re right the cop slapped the old man when he was already sitting, but FOR WHAT?? It’s not against the law to resist a cop’s domineering, aggressive attitude. And you know what? Even IF he was going to pee in the bushes, the cop can’t arrest him, or isn’t supposed to manhandle him, if he hasn’t committed a crime yet.