The first scream came before anyone reached for a phone.
Within seconds, however, the public square had become a forest of raised screens.
People recorded from every angle as police moved in to end a tense confrontation. The physical disturbance was brought under control, and there were no reports of serious injury.
But online, the incident was only beginning.
Short clips spread rapidly across social media, stripped of the moments that came before and after. People who had never met anyone involved began assigning motives, diagnosing behavior, choosing sides, and turning a few seconds of confusion into a much larger story.
A private human crisis had become public entertainment.
And the internet had no shortage of opinions about it.
A Few Seconds Can Never Tell the Whole Story
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