I'm just speculating here, but I wonder if the 57 officers who resigned did so because they felt that upper echelons had put them in a completely untenable position and then threw them under the bus.
If they were given orders to 'take back' the streets in a certain manner, a manner in which they'd been trained, and that's exactly what they did, then those two officers shouldn't have been hung out to dry. Placed on paid leave or assigned to desk duty while the incident is investigated, sure. Given a formal reprimand or fired if they violated orders or deviated from standard procedures, definitely. But not placed on unpaid leave and be in danger of losing their jobs just for doing their jobs the way they'd been trained to do it.
I'm not saying that's what happened, and I'm not saying I approve of what we all saw in that video. I'm trying to understand why 57 cops would suddenly resign like that. I'm trying to see things from their p.o.v.
If they were trained to follow Plan A, ordered to follow Plan A, and followed Plan A exactly as ordered, then the people who developed and chose to implement Plan A should step up and defend their choices and their officers.
Did you see the video? I believe they were rightly put on unpaid leave. I haven't gone back and watched a third time, but I believe one officer immediately started to check on the gentleman who was on the ground and the other pushed him off. A BUNCH of officers walked right on past a man who had not behaved aggressively, who was laying on the ground, bleeding apparently from his ear (sign of closed head injury, not merely scalp laceration) and...did nothing to stop and give aid. There were no shots fired, no emergency.
But if you are correct, then whoever issued orders such that they were NOT to stop and offer assistance to injured persons, then that person should also be placed on leave and investigated.