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According to Jim Evans at a clinic I attended there is nothing in OBR that prohibits a runner from crashing a fielder attempting to tag him. We see it at HP but actually it is allowed at any base.
But in this case the fielder was not attempting a tag.
Wendelstedt does say: "Many umpires incorrectly expand the interpretation of a catcher and batter-runner unintentionally making contact with one another, to other areas. This interpretation is for one particular situation, and should not be expanded to any other situation with contact between a fielder and a runner. When contact is made, other than this situation, it is almost always obstruction or interference."
He does have a caseplay which is not clear. Paraphrasing: "Ball hit to the shortstop. As R2 runs by he unintentionally runs into him. The ball gets away and rolls into the outfield. When R2 ran into the shortstop he committed interference"
Let's say that the shortstop had fielded the ball but had not decided on what to do with it yet. He could throw to 1B, run after the runner, or throw to 3B. Do we ask him what he was going to do before calling the interference because if he was going to chase the runner it would not be interference?
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