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I do understand that he clearly resisted arrest. I watched the video.

In reality, what you said should be the end of the story, but here are the details that you seek.

The local shop owners were complaining that they were losing sales to this guy selling untaxed cigs on the sidewalk in front of their stores. The cops got the complaint and responded. Backup, and supervisors were called. When everyone was in place, they approached the perp. When confronted, he resisted. Now the choice is to take the law into their own hands and simply walk away, or take the guy into custody.

There was no meeting or debate, but the decision was made to take the guy in. Since he was resisting, the cop closest to him relied on his training to get the perp on the ground. Now it's true that no pillow was offered, and our man was made uncomfortable while being cuffed but we didn't see him beaten or otherwise abused. He was simply held in place until he could be restrained. The black woman supervisor maintains that every action was by the book, as do the rest of the cops and 40 or so witnesses. The fact that the perp had serious health issues not caused by the takedown was not on the radar until he stopped breathing.