I agree with everything you're saying, but knowing who he is doesn't make them any safer. They can argue all day about who escalated, but the cops have every right to protect themselves. If you're belligerent and they can't see your hands, that's a problem. The judge would really have to be a Fins fan to see any wiggle room there.
The cops don't do themselves any favors by arguing with him. Better to keep it professional for sure. They'll get a talking-to for the jawing a couple of them did, but if it amounts to more than that it'll be due to NFL ass-kissing. The cops were in the right. Comply and the whole thing takes 10 minutes if you don't have a warrant. Decent chance the cops are fans. Being as asshole right off the bat just puts everyone on the defensive.
The cops can be "in the right" without being violent, and they were violent and clearly angry and insulted.
There is no timeline that you can get me to believe they thought Hill was going to shoot them to avoid a speeding ticket while heading to the football game. They KNEW they weren't in any danger, they just didn't like being disrespected.
Telling a cop to not touch your car isn't a violation of the law. When TH rolled up his window and said "do whatever you need to do just give me the ticket I need to get to the game" or whatever, they could've done exactly that...just wrote the ticket. What's wrong with that?
Ever had an irate, asshole customer acting like that, and you decided to just get the shit over with instead of starting a fight with him regardless of who's right or has technical authority in the situation?
Ego vs ego. There was no need to make a point of yelling and cursing at TH about how he will do whatever you say when you say it. That's just trying to assert authority, not enforce the law. The window thing was the figurative foot in the door that gave the cop an excuse to flex.