1) You assume these people are "innocent." That guy handcuffed on the street was not handcuffed for simply driving a white van. He may well have had an outstanding warrant. The picture doesn't really tell us.
2) As for the guys with their hands up, well if I were an officer approaching one of these vans, I would have guns drawn too. And if I were in one of these Vans, I would have my hands up and be cooperative. Nothing unusual there.
3) Legally, of course, probable cause exists to stop all these Vans, so we don't have any problem there either.
4) As for what it is really like down here, most of us pass through these check-points without problem or incident. And, we are very happy to cooperate. I was stuck in a dragnet on Rt 66 east on Monday night after the sniper killed a woman at the home depot where I regularly shop, just 3 miles from my house. It sure is inconvenient, but no one has a better solution yet.
The cops are working their butts off on this case. We have cops coming in from other jurisdictions and volunteering on their days off. We have feds, we have 6 different agencies and departments now searching. The mundane tasks of filling up at the pump, buying groceries, walking our kids to school, or even playing in parks or our backyards have taken on real and frightening risks.
We are all paying a price down here, some unfortunately, with their lives. For the literally thousands of white van owners, the inconvenience is even worse. But for those law abiding citizens, they have no reason to fear and they are happy to cooperate.
It has been reported that there were NO arrests made that night. So no, the person didn't have an outstanding warrant.