I am the first to call for police to be prosecuted when they break the law. From what I saw the only thing he could reasonably be charged with is potentially minor assault charges and even that is iffy. One thing I am absolutely certain about is that he should lose his job, he has no business being a police officer. His actions could have very well incited a riot and put him and his fellow officers in great danger.
I can only hope that I could keep my cool if I saw my daughter being treated that way but my instinct would be to immediately stop the person hurting my daughter at all cost. It only takes one or two people to start shit for the rest to follow. Cops are supposed to deescalate a scene for their safety and the safety of everyone else. I find it hard to believe any argument that his actions did anything but escalate the situation.
I agree they should have deescalated the scene. That was their job. Their job was also to protect others. The cops could have, and should have handled it better from the outside looking in. Without being there it is very hard to judge. There was a huge unruly crowd, and the cops were outnumbered.
I see no assault. He took her to the ground, there were no strikes that I saw. Took her to the ground, and held her because he would not comply. This is pretty standard practice. I have had it done to me back in my younger and more stupid days. I can remember thinking I was in the right at the time, looking back afterwards I was not.
I don't think he should lose his job. Additional training? Yeah, I can see that. The ones who already incited a riot were the "children". Again, there was nobody hurt, nobody shot, nobody arrested, none of the above. He subdued a unruly female, and drew his gun when he felt threatened. Then immediately put it away afterwards. What he could have done, perhaps even should have done, was pull out spray or his taser instead. But depending on the level he felt threatened, I have a hard time concluding this.
I agree that if a cop took my daughter to the ground like that, I would be instinctively upset. I don't have to worry about that though, because my daughter doesn't act like that. She's about the same age, 16 years old, and would never act like that in public and especially towards and officer. In that regard I have nothing to worry about. I could understand if a parent just walked up to that scene and got upset though.
Personally I think the news and especially social media blew this out of proportion, like usual. There was a large unruly group of kids who were not supposed to be there, a few fights broke out, several people called the cops. Nobody was hurt, arrested, assaulted by the cops, etc. Really a non issue for me, but media made it one. With the pictures and video of the fight though, a few people could be arrested after the fact if the ones who got hit wanted to pursue it. There is pretty clear evidence of the fight between the two groups.