Assuming Buford Pusser wasn’t there, most folks would be afraid the psycho mob’s attention would turn on them.
I don’t fault the Defendant for not thinking of this, but he might have saved his bacon by saying something like, “I KNOW I haven’t done anything wrong, but if you think I have, call the police RIGHT NOW, and let them sort it out.” The last thing teenage drunks would want is the police showing up and asking them questions. They might have blown out some big talk, maybe even punched him in the stomach, but they probably would have left.
At the local dog park some accusations started flying about a dog biting somebody so the person with the dog called the police. The person that got “bit” (a scratch really - from grabbing her ball that another dog had) was told by the animal control person (that was nearby and arrived first) “Hey - it’s a dog park. Things like this happen, and you assume that risk taking your dog to play with 20 other dogs.”