And all the stories you can find about asshole cops doesn't change anything, the assholiness of the gendarmerie was never in doubt, after all, who would want that job, anyway, but an asshole?

No, the guy was drunk, fell asleep in line at Wendy's drive-thru, and then when he realized his whole day was going to end badly, (at the very least, lose his licence or insurance and a heavy fine); decided to take advantage of the new wave of self-righteous indignation sweeping the country to do a little intimidation of his own. Besides, there were brothers around with cameras ready to back him up, right?. Stupid? Sure, even he would have realized that if he had been sober.

Maybe the cops could have cut him some slack and told him to call for a ride to take him home, that's a point well taken, but he looses my sympathy when he chooses instead to get into a fight, and to reach for their weapons. There's a purely simian power dynamic at work here, the cops are always outnumbered and depend on the ability to project commanding force instantly. If they fail to do so, they become objects of contempt, easy targets, wimps, and the crowd will turn on them....especially a crowd that has very valid reasons to be be pissed off at bully cops.

I agree, maybe they could have had a gentler approach to begin with. Like you said, cut the guy some slack. Maybe if he had been white they might have, although we don't really know that, a drunk driver is a drunk driver. But once the guy puts up even a token resistance, they HAVE to escalate. On the street, those are the rules of engagement. This incident isn't necessarily like those other cases that have been in the news lately.

Like you said, you've had encounters with asshole cops as a white guy. When I was a hippy dippy long hair I did too, even though I was lily-white too; as far as the pigs were concerned I was just a new flavor of nigger. Fortunately, pot makes you docile and introspective, you move slow but think fast. Liquor does just the opposite. It makes you think you're invincible.