If you can see criminal violence as the only means of "resistance," then you're more intellectually limited than I'd imagined.
I regard a misdemeanor as a minor amount of violence, while a felony would indicate a major amount of violence.
A little physical altercation is no big deal in my opinion, but if the man put both hands around the guy's throat, then bore him to the ground and proceeded to pummel him, that is a bridge too far.
But now there seems to be a dispute that this is what happened. One woman is saying that he grabbed the guy's wrist and they both fell.
This is what I mean when I say you can't prejudge what happened solely on the basis of what one side says about it.