As a Charlottesville native, I'm afraid that you are in fact 100% correct. It's an expensive town to live in, and the city doesn't pay its officers enough to afford a decent quality of life by local standards. As a result, they're pretty much all bitter and/or looking to turn a quick buck.
Hit by police in Virginia? He should be thankful he's not dead. Virginia police have this hobby of shooting unarmed civilians. The Virginia DAs have a hobby of not prosecuting the police.