well, I guess you could call that a personal decision. As far as I’m concerned, he needed his butt stomped for what he was doing to her. him getting kicked was a direct result of his initiating the assault and illegal detention. there was no cause for what he did other than his ego taking a hit and that is not just cause. you can say she should have just complied so she could leave, and again, that’s a personal decision. I don’t submit to stuff like that. If a cop tells me to dance, that will be met with resistance. As Charlie Murphy would say, they are “habitual line-steppers”.
I have experienced encounters with cops where I was asked to do something that I didn't understand or agree with. For instance, at the Tea Party rallies I've been to in Florida, the cops request the crowds to relegate themselves to certain areas to keep away from traffic and we comply.
They asked us when we were near the federal courthouse to not go onto the property thereof--even though we were citizens who had every right to go there. We didn't cry that we were being oppressed. We listened, had our protest and went about our business.
Not all of us agreed with the orders, but we were willing to get along with officers who were understandably doing a job that needed to be done.
This woman, with admitted mental problems, should have just complied.
I am sorry she died--she must have been profoundly lonely. But the cop didn't kill her. And he couldn't have known she was mentally ill, could he? The question is rhetorical. I think you and I will have to agree to disagree. :-)