I just watched the video from the source I posted and it turns out that the father names the suspect, so he was obviously familiar with him. I still don't know the level of force, coercion, consent involved. Obviously, the further it was towards consensual and the further away it was from rape and coercion, the more sympathy I would have for the suspect. The fact that the father knows him well also makes the level of violence involved more about revenge and less about protection.

I wish I had had all of these facts in front of me when making my first few posts in this thread. But as you may be aware of, we don't always have that luxury. Knowing what I know now, my position is probably somewhere between yours and my original position in this thread. I think it's primal instinct to attack an unknown person to protect ones child, but if it's someone you and the child know well, then yes, attacking them like that is basically about revenge rather than protection.

He could have pulled the kid away and called the cops while making sure that the suspect didn't flee. If I had been in that situation with someone I knew well, I most likely find a non violent solution. If it's a stranger, then it's most likely a primal, violent response. I think that's just human nature at its most basic level, whether right or wrong.