Lefties aren’t supposed to side with cops over apparent police brutality episodes, but this video-captured incident — a two-day-old encounter between a young Paul Blart-ish policeman and a couple of attitude girls in a predominantly black neighborhood of Seattle — was primarily the girls’ fault. The cop obviously messed up when he punched the girl in the pink T-shirt, but the women were belligerent and hysterical and physically confrontational.

It was just a stupid jay-walking admonishment to begin with, but the girls elevated it into a neighborhood melodrama by refusing to show respect to the cop and the authority that he represents. Under stable social conditions, all citizens are obliged to chill down and comply when an officer pulls or calls them over. No exceptions, no arguments — you calmly respond to what the officer has to say. N.W.A.’s “Fuck The Police” and other such sentiments don’t apply.

You certainly don’t wave the cop off and walk away, which is reportedly what the girl in the black T-shirt did. If there’s a complaint about a wrong call or illegality or unfairness or what-have-you, there are ways to address this. Tedious and time-consuming ways, yes, but they exist. Either way you don’t tell a cop to piss off, and you don’t physically resist.

“The Seattle Police Department announced at a press conference [yesterday] that it will conduct a review of yesterday’s taped incident on the 3100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way S, involving an officer who punched a teenage girl in the face after she shoved him,” a slog.com story says.

“Acting Deputy Chief Nick Metz said today while the department will be reviewing the tape, for departmental training purposes, it’s withholding judgment on the actions of the officer. ‘We have questions about his tactics, so he’s going to receive additional training,’ Metz said of the officer, ‘and we’ve forwarded the incident to the Office of Professional Accountability. That’s all we’re prepared to do at this point.”

Metz adds that the teenagers in the video also ‘bear a great deal of responsibility.’

“‘Even if you think that contact from a police officer is unlawful, it is your responsibility to cooperate with it,’ says Metz. ‘In the event that you do receive contact from an officer that you think is unlawful, there are mechanisms instated which you can go through.”

“Metz says he doesn’t know the officer’s intent–whether he planned on just issuing a warning or ticket the teens for jaywalking. ‘I do know that if the young woman would have stopped and talked to [the officer], we wouldn’t be talking now,” says Metz. Once the teen resisted, a crowd gathered and cell phones started recording the incident.

“Eventually, both teens were arrested — one for the misdemeanor offense of obstructing an officer and the other for third-degree assault on an officer, a felony.”