With Wanda televising the events, I don't think it's unreasonable for him to question if they exist. That said, three superpowered individuals are squaring off against you and your men in defense of a crazy powerful witch that's been torturing a few thousand people over the past few weeks, I don't much care if they're kids or not.
Sure, but it's still something someone could reasonably be arrested for which it should be noted, can happen without being formally charged (and subsequently tried and sentenced). And even if you want to take attempted murder off the table, Hayward still committed a bunch of other crimes.
Again, Wanda was torturing the entire town of Westview, to the point where they were begging for death. Take her out.
Understood, and the point is Hayward most likely didn't need to do anything illegal. He was simply too impatient to do things the proper way. Hayward even admits this in the finale: "No one's going to care once I've eliminated Wanda Maximoff." Maybe? Your original questions were
"What did Haywood do that ends up with him in cuffs anyway?" and
"But Haywood is treated as the bad guy?" and the answer to both of those questions is because he kept breaking the law. Why he did so is immaterial as a legal matter. Tampering with evidence, for example, is still a crime and one that people regularly get arrested for and charged with. If you want to defend Hayward from a moral standpoint, I'm not here to argue that. From a legal standpoint? Yeah, he absolutely should be arrested and at least questioned. People can get arrested based on reasonable suspicion though the text shows Hayward actually committed several crimes (which would be probable cause, a legal standard of proof greater than reasonable suspicion).
That said, the end doesn't justify the means. Wanda committing crimes doesn't give Hayward license to commit his own crimes. Hayward had all the tools at his disposal to follow protocol and go through the proper channels yet he decided to take shortcuts that were unfortunately outside of what is allowed under the law. If you apply that same reasoning to any other situation, he would still be arrested.
First, Wanda is not arrested because she just flies away and has demonstrated the ability to literally disappear because magic.
Monica has super powers as well. Even a line "You know I can't just let you go, right? These people deserve justice." "Naw, fam, I got better things to do. Peace out."
Instead, Monica's all "Oh, you were just sad. I've been sad too. Bye."
Contextually speaking, I feel like you quoted around the important bits so here's the full quote (emphasis is mine):
That is, of course, a separate point from why Wanda and Agatha aren't narratively arrested and treated as bad guys. First, Wanda is not arrested because she just flies away and has demonstrated the ability to literally disappear because magic. She is treated like a bad guy by everyone in Westview, and I presume the authorities are looking for her. I don't believe the show is trying to justify Wanda's actions because she hasn't faced any legal repercussions (yet).
Narratively speaking, Wanda wasn't arrested because she flew away and no one could stop her. I think the text supports this. That isn't commentary on whether she should be arrested. To clarify, in my humble opinion, yeah, Wanda
should be arrested for (at least) all the kidnapping and torture. I don't think anyone here was saying otherwise. I don't even think the show itself was suggesting otherwise.
To your point about Monica, if you're saying she should have at least
tried to arrest Wanda, sure. I'm not arguing that. Did Monica, as a S.W.O.R.D. agent, have the authority to arrest Wanda even if she wanted to? That isn't a rhetorical question. I don't know the answer to that. I was under the impression that the FBI arrested Hayward because Woo called for back up. It seemed like Wanda was long gone by the time the FBI got there. Maybe they would have tried to arrest Wanda? Who's to say.
Separately, I'm not sure Monica
could have arrested Wanda unless Wanda surrendered. Are Monica's superpowers anywhere near Wanda's who seemingly became even more powerful? Wanda almost killed Thanos singlehandedly pre-power boost while Monica was only shown to phase through bullets and maybe display improved agility (i.e. superhero landing in episode 7).
Granted, we don't know what was/wasn't televised (I assumed the Agatha All Along reveal was televised, but I guess that could have just been for Wanda's viewing enjoyment.), but aside from that, Monica knows a large part of what Agatha was responsible for. And she just lets her go as well.
I thought "Agatha All Along" was for us (the real world audience), and Wanda's show effectively ended when Agatha trapped Wanda in the basement. Then, in the next episode, there was that line about runes and only the witch who cast the spell can use her power there, suggesting Wanda couldn't be broadcasting because she was cut off from using her powers.
Regardless, yes, Monica is one of the people who won't corroborate what Agatha did which is why Agatha wasn't arrested strictly from a narrative perspective. That doesn't mean she shouldn't have been arrested. A short list of Agatha's crimes specifically in Westview (or I suppose, technically Eastview) include but aren't limited to destruction of property, reckless endangerment, kidnapping, assault and battery, and a case can probably be made for aiding and abetting. If you're implying Monica isn't performing her duties as a S.W.O.R.D. agent, again, I'm not here to argue that.