Steady On... Cyclist sues New York Police over body slam video incident

You don't know any other facts in the case, because you haven't looked, or even read the thread particularly carefully - the video is old news, the civil case is new. Short version: your hypothetical situation is not what happened.

But I agree with Clive when he said that thing about the policeman being right and needing to prosecute the cyclist.

Of course it didn't happen, that's why it's hypothetical. You are right that I don't know the other facts, but I've only seen this thread and the linked article, and a cycling website link posted on a cycling forum is hardly a neutral source...

I was simply making the point that in a theoretical situation there may or may not be a justification for it, I don't know.