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"So the officer is suppoosed to somehow magically know that this isn't an escaped felon, just waiting for a chance to pop a cap in his behind?"

This officer is supposed to have 14 years of experience - how often do you suppose escaped felons travel with babies in car seats?

You can make all the excuses you want for this guy, but it's clear from the video that he was only interested in putting some citizen in his place for annoying him. His pleasure in making that guy "ride the taser" was all too obvious.

Whether you want to recognize it or not, our society is evolving to cops - with the authority to wreck your life at will or just end it - and us suspects. This isn't the situation our Founding Fathers had in mind, is it?

... our society is evolving to cops - with the authority to wreck your life at will or just end it - and us suspects.

That's it.

We used to be citizens, now we're all suspects.

I make no excuses at all.
The situation was that the young man wanted to dispute the ticket, refused to sign the ticket (NOT an admission of guilt and most people know that), got mouthy, refused to obey lawful orders of the LEO, and created the situation himself.

Once the officer is involved the young man's wife got out of the vehicle and started to come to the back. Once again, the officer, IMO, controlled the situation with the least amount of force possible, telling her to get back in the car.

Once again, the young man created the situation, the officer, IMO, had cause, and both parties (all three if you include the wife) could have handled the situation much differently and had a different outcome.

Does that mean that the officer's actions are not subject to review? No.

Does that mean the officer was automatically in the wrong? No.