Catch is: he was their supervisor. And the only one running around screaming, cussing, and asserting authoritah.
He jess couldn't get no respect from his men. I wonder why?
There it is.
That is my take on it- they were “not respecting his authoritah!!!!!” and he thought physical force would in the middle of a crowd was the way to get it...
Way out of his league in this situation