“principle to cops handcuffing people until they can sort things out”
Another thing I have seen is they make everyone sit on the ground, so they can tower over the ‘suspects’ and inflate the intimidation.
Police will do everything they can get away with to hurt people, from what I have seen with my own eyes.
Or maybe it's just harder to get up and run from a sitting position. If they're standing, they stand a better chance of bolting from the cops.