The pressure in the feet directly coming out does not allow for the bends they'd need to get past the car legally parked away from the hydrant with ease. They couldn't bend the hose to get it into the street. The car was parked in a place supposed to be unobstructed to allow the proper distance to get enough hose to turn. The only reason it works when going through a car is because the first sharp 90 degree turn upwards is "helped" by the car's side and the second 90 degree is helped by the car's roof. Without either, they are not getting the hose to bend.
drinkmorejava makes a valid point. Based on Capt. Cavemans photo (second one down), it appears that they could have used either the side port to the hydrant itself or the side port to the attached fitting to lead the hose behind the car, either between the BMW and the Acura, or around the back end of the Acura and then curve to the left...which is where it ends up going anyway, based on the third photo.
One problem is that it's difficult to tell exactly where the fire was in relation to the car based on the provided gallery. Looks like maybe around the corner (going off of third photo)?
Having said all of that...I'm not about to second guess the split second decision to take the shortest route between the fire and the hydrant, and highly doubt the BMW owner would win a court case. He rolled the dice and lost.