It brings up an interesting question. If you witness a police officer abusing someone who is innocent, what do you? I'm sure those kids were reacting like they would have reacted to anyone manhandling their friend, throwing them to the ground and pushing their face down. And then they remembered that dude was a cop with a gun. And good for them for remembering. 1 or 2 feet closer and one of them might have been going home in a body bag.
But what are you supposed to do? Stand there and let the police violate people's civil rights? I guess if you value your life, you do. But "trusting the system" when the system is extra-judicially wailing on a friend or family member must be supremely difficult.
I mean, they couldn't have been much closer. They were in reach of the him and shouting constantly. To be generous, it was a case of mob mentality making people stupid. Pulling the gun was actually one of the more justified things that cop did, because he was definitely physically threatened and they were refusing to back off.
Though again, it happened because he failed to manage the situation, and striking the girl was unnecessary and only made the situation worse.
There are cases where it is necessary to rise up against tyranny... They were just being angry and ineffectual. Which is, like, exactly what I would have done in that situation. Tensions were high as hell because the cop was terrible at his job. His emotions were out of control, and he was basically responsible for the escalation.
Also underreported, the "fight" that got the police called was between a resident telling those kids to "Go back to Section 8 Housing" and the kids telling them to fuck off. At that point, the cops were called. Although them overwhelming the guard at the security gate probably would have accomplished that anyways.
They were trespassing though, right? I don't like gated communities either, but I don't expect to be able to tell of the residents and use their amenities without consequences. Particularly with such a large group. Heck, technically I've been escorted off a property for something similar. Though... I was with someone with dark skin on that occasion. Hrm.