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Photojournalist Tyson Heder is being charged with three counts: Battery on a Peace Officer, Assault on a Peace Officer, and Resisting Arrest. His friends and family bailed him out at $20,000.
The whole incident was caught on film...(taken down by CBS news once before)
"I look forward to proving the charges against me to be completely and thoroughly fraudulent."
This is a picture of his face after the incident:
I can't tell, but the initial push seemed uncalled for.
But, when they had him on the ground, it did look like he was physically resisting them. I'm not sure, but I think you can get charged for resisting arrest, even if the arrest you resist is later shown to be wrongful. At any rate, when a group of police set their mind to arrest you, I think going limp is fine, but you don't want to fight back. They will never let you go because you manage to struggle free. The cop definitely socked him at 2:48. No excuse for that.
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That was more or less my take as well. I wish, as with most inflammatory clips like this, that I could have seen what occurred 30 seconds beforehand. I cannot tell if Heder was goading the police or not, but the shove by the cop is unnecessary. If he was going to arrest Heder, the cop should have announced that he was being placed under arrest and then moved to arrest him. The shove to the ground seemed more reactive than proactive, which is never a good idea when you're wearing a badge.