A dispute over unintentional nonpayment that escalated, followed within 20 minutes by payment in person and an attempt by the restaurant to drop charges, on the one hand. Then on the other hand, you have an elderly man arrested, wrists bloodied by too-tight handcuffs and jailed under $12,000 bond? The two do not logically follow. Police overreaction, imho.
The elderly often have thin skin, like tissue paper. They’ll bleed if the wind blows on them wrong. The very act of cuffing him might have caused blood to flow.