Quote Originally Posted by sharpe1027 View Post
Saying one is more wrong than the other begins to sound like an excuse for one side. I make no judgment on who is "more" wrong. Neither seems justified, so they are both wrong.

Also, one side was (arguably) stealing/misusing someone else's property. If they were "belligerent" it does not help their case, but they still seem to have been in the wrong either way. If they were antagonizing, one could foresee (but not excuse) escalation of the situation. Poor judgment all around if that is the case.
I assume you don't think that every crime should carry the same punishment. So in a simplified sense of error, they are both equally wrong. However, the consequences of their actions were asymmetrical. We don't even know if the property suffered any harm before, during or after the scuffle.

One side being more wrong doesn't make an excuse for either side. There isn't a finite amount of punishment that has to be apportioned according to blame. Each side, if a crime was judged to have been committed, would face a separate process with a separate jeopardy.