This is true. In a court of law, nothing would come of this because you can't conclusively say what caused the dude to be on the ground.
You're right about the propaganda, though. I mean, there's all this uproar about this "IRAQ VET that got HURT". What does his veteran status have ANYTHING to do with that other than to just conjure up emotions in the readers. The first thing I thought when I read that headline was "WHO THE F&K cares if he was a vet. That has NOTHING to do with this. The cops didn't know he was a vet. Being a vet doesn't give his opinion on an economic protest any more weight." Ya know?
I think it's more likely he got hit with a tear gas canister which is probably way heavier, than having got his add beat. If someone got his ass beat right in front of a cop, you'd think the cops would have stepped up and stopped it.
But then again, you're right. However, if he had gotten hit in the head with a tear gas canister RIGHT in front of the cops so they could see it, don't you think the flash bang was a bit uncalled for? He already had a head injury. What if that thing had exploded right in his face.
I think it's very important for people to document these protests on video. There are plenty of cops out there that love abusing power and being in a situation like this gives them carte blanche (sp?) sometimes to live out their violent fantasies. I just wish someone had captures a few different angles of this.