I agree with the cop. He had a group in real close quarters, a holstered weapon, and hands grabbing all over him, I'd be swinging to clear the space before I laid both of them on the ground and threw them in the car too. There is no room for stupid, and man or woman reaching around my gun will pay the price.

James is 100% right. When wristy twisty games don't work it is time to try something else. Escalate or back off until help arrives and then go for the "tactical" dogpile and make her a human pretzel.

On a funny note, the girl being pushed around sure knew how to run her mouth.  I believe at one point she said something about "you weak ass mother f******" that was pretty funny.... And it is true, that officer had no control.

I didn't know the background of the story was jaywalking.  That sounds a little bit crazy, but judging how the girl was acting in the video, she probably did something to deserve being put down. 

I think the cop is lucky that he didn't get jumped when he punched that girl.  Or maybe everyone else in the crowd knew better than to get involved.

I'm surprised someone here thinks paddlers would always support people attacking police because the offense was small.   Jaywalking... speeding... failure to use turn signal.... doesn't matter.

The crime she got punched for was ASSAULT.  You DON'T hit or push an officer.

The person jaywalking doesn't get to choose what LAWS are enforced.

Cops get shot pulling people for having tail lights out, this was going bad quick.

James is also right.  The cop probably could have avoided it all by either backing off or being really assertive and cuffing her sooner.  I would be scared in that situation... he was WAY outnumbered and being ganged up on.

Police are not bullet proof, and if you watch at 1:32 it sure looks like one of the bystanders may have even been holding a gun.
http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=91

Again, as I said, the officer's actions were questionable, but understandable. Unfortunately there is no yay or nay for what he did. However, it is not acceptable under ANY circumstance to touch a police officer. The girls acted wrongly.

I am also not sure how he was being overzealous. Granted there is no context before the point the video is being taken, or the remainder of the incident so it isn't possible to be entirely sure what happened. However, it would seem he was attempting to arrest the girl in black, she resists and the girl in pink comes over and begins assaulting the officer. That assault is the action that warranted the response. Not jaywalking. Why he was trying to arrest the girl wearing black, I can only speculate, but I am sure it has something to do with resisting.

If I had a daughter and this happened to her, I would be angry, but my first question would be: "Why in the hell were you touching a police officer?"

In terms of respect, I would say he was far too respectful to the two girls. I have seen, in person, a man get full on tackled by two police officers because he just happened to look like someone they were looking for. The actual suspect had done something in the bar I was outside of, but this was the wrong guy. Once tackled, the guy's face was ground into the cement with a nightstick behind his neck. I could see blood begin to seep onto the concrete from some cuts on his face. The guy did nothing, did not resist, etc. THAT is police brutality plain and simple. No provocation, no threat. Just some dude standing in the wrong place looking similar to the wrong person. Dont get me wrong, I am not the biggest fan of the police, but I am also not the biggest fan of people acting stupid, which is what the girls did.

On the subject of race, it is pointless to bring it into this argument because it is only speculation. How do you know for sure two white girls wouldnt get the same treatment? If I were to speculate, I would imagine nothing violent would have happened if the girls in the video had only mouthed off to the officer. You are allowed to disagree with an officer verbally, but as soon as you get physical you have officially broken the law. Thats what the girls did, so they get whatever physical reaction the officer deems appropriate which, in this case, was on the lighter side of what I have experienced.

Spoken like someone who knows that zone.  There were two different times I could not get to my house after work because there were murders on my block and they had several square blocks shut down.  However, I will say that I (personally) never had the slightest issue with anyone, and I found most residents freindly / interesting.  I do miss the diversity, but once it was time to have kids, that was it...no more. I could literally sit on my porch and watch drug deals go down all day / every day, at the corner store. Let me know if you need an address

I never said it was appropriate, I said the following: Again, as I said, the officer's actions were questionable, but understandable.

I only say his reaction was understandable due to the extremely stressful situation with which he was presented. I cant say what I would have done in his situation, but in speculation I probably would have called for back up and been more forceful in the arrest. I imagine if he had threatened pepper spray or a tazer, the girls would have backed off.

However, the guy was surrounded by an angry group of bystanders, and was then pushed by someone who was not directly involved with what he was doing. That is a bit disconcerting because if one person from the crowd steps in and pushes the officer, it would only take one or two more to do the same before you have a full on brawl with the cop in the middle getting the piss kicked out of him.

As to your scenario, the girl in the video did a little more than "inadvertently brush her sleeve on the cops massive forearm", she aggressively pushed the officer.

The better point is the one you made about a good officer not letting this situation come into existence in the first place. I am not sure how experienced the guy was in the first place and I would like to think he was a rookie, but probably not since he was alone. He certainly looked nervous, and I would be too.

Apparently the police guild has ruled he did nothing wrong, so this is more or less a moot point.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/421842_cop16.html

According to the Seattle Times story, the first girl got the cop's attention by ignoring his request to come talk to him after being caught jaywalking.  It escalated from there.  She tried to walk away, he went and got her.  Then she tried to squirm away again, and he tried harder to keep her under control, and it just got more and more out of control.  These two girls just thought they were too cool to listen to the police.  They probably don't feel so cool now.