I've been to several different parts of Mexico within the last few years and apart from the unavoidable culture shock, I never had a problem. I'd go back tomorrow if I could.
That includes staying in Playa del Carmen (not in a resort; 5+ blocks from tourist-y stuff) for a week, and gallivanting all over Mazatlan for a week. I'm unlike a lot of people in that I find a large part of the fun of travel is living with the locals. I'm not great with Spanish, but all it takes is finding some veteran visitors to the area or especially helpful bilingual locals, then picking their brain about different activities/food to try and things to avoid. There's so much more to these places than the beachfront resort you see in the pamphlet.
Now, that said, although I'm somewhat adventurous, I'm also cautious about it. There's no reason to make a fuss in a foreign country, especially when you can't communicate with most of those who live there.
Back to the alleged assault in Playa del Carmen... I'm almost certain they guys "had it coming" (at least to some degree). One of the first things I noticed in PdC was the extremely high ratio of cops to people. There were police EVERYWHERE throughout the town. I asked several people why this was the case, and they said mainly to prevent drug lords from taking root there, and secondly, to maintain peace so that the tourism industry remains strong (it's their biggest industry). It would not surprise me one bit if a bored officer got annoyed by an obnoxious tourist and went a bit too far, but tourists must know their limits when in foreign countries... no excuses.
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