Reddit Challenge story #4

Police brutality against OWS protestors from a cop's POV.
I was never what you would call a stereotypical cop. I was never involved in crazy on-foot pursuits of most-wanted drug kingpins; I never fired my weapon in combat, much less in a blazing gunfight amidst a burning building. The guys down at the precinct used to call me ‘the mark’ because in the game of cops vs. criminals vs. their marks, I always seemed like the oblivious, carefree mark about to get whacked. Of course, they called me ‘the mark’ as a joke, and we all ragged on each other; but last week, everything changed.
I got assigned to the protest because, lets face it, nobody in Washington much less anybody in the NYPD takes these protesters too seriously. I didn’t, and I still don’t, but that doesn’t change what happened…
It was a nice day and the park was filled with people, I was posted on the southwest corner, near a small street band, performing throughout the day. Every few minutes I would step over to the group of people surrounding the band and look in to see if anything suspicious was happening. For most of the day, all was routine. I began to fall back into thoughts about my fiancé, and thoughts about the baby that was due in just four months! In four months I was going to be a father or a mother. What would that be like, how would I change, how would my wife?
Just as I began to delve into another round of thought, I realize it was time to check the band once again. I began to politely move my way through the crowd when a man I bumped into became agitated. He screamed at me that I was invading his privacy and violating his rights, and before I knew it, six or seven of the people around him had circled me and joined in the screaming. I held my hand at my waist, just above the handle of my pistol. The group of people got louder and drew closer to me, their yelling masked from my fellow officers by the noise of the band. Immediately I noticed the man I had bumped into was drawing a knife from his pocket. He lunged at me with the knife. It was obvious he was not very adept at stabbing as I was able to grab the knife and subdue him immediately. However, this caused the group to become agitated even more, and people began to grab at me, pulling my shirt and trying to take my walkie talkie and badge. Seeing my options collapse with an angry, knife wielding teenager at my feet, I pulled out my mace and sprayed around me. As soon as the crowd dispersed enough where I could reach the button, I called for backup. It was all over in seconds.
What is my wife going to say, what will my child think when he or she finds out what I did? I only did what I needed to protect myself, I didn’t break any laws. I don’t even disagree with the protestors. Why do I have to be the one on trial?