The point of view character is usually (always?) part of the action and indeed the advice is often to choose the character who is most affected by the action, to give the greatest dramatic impact to the writing.
True, in many cases, yet witness the style of the Sherlock Holmes stories, where Conan Doyle uses Dr Watson as the narrator. Watson of course was generally involved in the cases he narrates, but he was never really the person 'most affected' by the action. It's an interesting technique: told in the first person by a narrator who is a witness to the events, and sometimes a participant. And of course, he sometimes offers reflections on the events.