The guard tore Sewell's shirt, but notice how both men go to the ground at one point. The shirt could have been torn at any point after the exchange began. The question is: who initiated the assault? I pointed to the fact that there is no video evidence that the guard assaulted the cameraman. Let's be charitable and say the guard became frustrated and put a hand on the shoulder of the cameraman to begin 'directing him' toward the door. That's not out of the question. But we can't jump to the conclusion that the guard threw a punch at the cameraman. Whether what the guard actually did (which we cannot see) rises to the level of assault or not, it's not within Sewell's rights to begin attacking the guard if what the guard did was put his hands on the cameraman. Let's also acknowledge that when we are dealing with a security guard, whose job it is to keep an environment secure, there might be a little latitude given to him (especially if he has a clean professional record) *not to assault people*, but forgiving him if he places his open hand on someone's shoulder for instance. Whatever went on between the guard and the cameraman, Sewell wasn't the one threatened here, and if Sewell threw the first punch at the guard, he's wrong. Listen, I understand the frustration over this. The first time I watched the video I was frustrated as well. But step back from it a little ways and consider what's actually going on here. The security guard is paid to do what he did here. He doesn't want to. Nobody wants to deal with this shit. It's his job. On top of having to jump in and deal with two instigators that nobody else wants to deal with, he gets called a fucking monkey on top of everything else. These guys were trespassing, and when the security guard tried to escort them out of the building (which he did at first through verbal commands), the cameraman called him a monkey and <maybe or maybe not> the guard 'assaulted' the cameraman. Either way, does that mean Sewell can come over and start throwing punches? Probably not. From the standpoint of common sense, Sewell should have known neither of them were going to get away with this unless they could show the guard had literally attacked them (forget the legal definition of assault). It's fairly obvious to me that's not what happened, and so Sewell is going to get fucked over for this. He should have been smart and left the building when he was asked to, and if he'd wanted to escalate this, he should have gone and collected more people to go 'stage a protest'. Attacking a black man on the job is patently retarded in this day and age. I have no sympathy for Sewell in this case.