Upstate NY. A good friend of mine in his 50's was attacked by 5 police officers for looking into why his wifes car was surrounded by cops outside of a resturant in a small town that i grew up in.

My question is, is this legal?
This man is the most layed back easy going types you will ever run across hands down. He is a veteran and keeps to himself and is well respected in the area.

Long story short, he looked out of a window in the resturant he was eating at to see his wife's car who had just pulled in, was surrounded by cops. He walked out and asked what was going on and is imediately replied with a hostile you need to back up and go back inside right now. He says, this is my wife and my vehicle i want to know what is going on here? Officer replied, go inside now or we will toss you in the back of that car right there!
My friend turned around and started WALKING AWAY and mumbling. He told me that he said "you fucking cops are something else I tell you". Opend the door to the resturant and was half way through the door when the door was yanked open from behind him, he is grabbed by 2 officers who then start to wrestle him out of the resturant. He held onto the door while trying to figure out what was happening and before he knew it he was on the floor with 5 officers on top of him like he was a 17 year old punk. Now before he hit the floor the cops were saying "quit resisting arrest". Now, Nobody ever told him he was under arrest and he was on his way IN the door just like they had told him to do, only with a few words that I thought the 1st Amendment allows him to say, correct?

I was under the impresuon that freedom of speech allows you to say/ or not say/ whatever your heart desires.
Am i wrong? Imput wanted please as we are confused and full of anger as he re-injured his rotator cuff injury/ and had to have x-rays, and has a pretty apparant limp.

His wife even said that she asked the officers for a cup of water because she was so upset from watching them take down her husband like that, and they said no.

After a bit of research and hear say, these officers are all part time cops because the town cannot afford real cops anymore. I also found out that many of these cops are only here because they have already been booted from another towns police force for excessive cases of harassment.

This town used to have very respectable officers who were great men and had respect and love for their town and the people living in it, but now those men have retired and the people that occupy this force now is dispicable to say at best. They also hire men from way down in NYC and Long Island now to come up here and just harass instead of protect. The good people of this town have been through enough with year after year of destructive flooding.

Is this happening in other towns as well in upstate NY?

Just to top it all off, this was all over a loud exhaust fix it ticket.
My friend was hauled in and held on 2500$ bail, for resisting arrest, and acting disorderly ( or something like that).

Is this justifiable? All over a "fix it" ticket?

These are the men that will be allowed to carry the weapons that are "too dangerous" (looking) for us regular folk?
These are the men who are going to "PROTECT US?" after we hand over our weapons?

My head is spinning.