[genewitch]

They don't show it "open", and i don't know enough about what it is to spend any time finding the actual "toy" to see how dangerous it looks.

What happens, though, is the police will do something and then post-hoc rationalize it. Without video there's no way i can believe he was "brandishing" this "toy". Some guy who pointed a single finger at a cop in the US recently received a $175,000 payout after being arrested and charged because he was constitutionally protected by the first amendment for his "speech". Didn't stop the cops from arresting an older man, though.

I've seen a lot of abuse under the color of authority articles and videos and analysis, so here's a possible series of events. Bray may be a little touched - the article skates around this, but in a high crime area, someone who's a little weird or different or moving differently may find the police initiating contact. Bray may have had this toy on a keychain or near his hand, and on a frisk or whatever the police found it. Bray may not have "cooperated" fully with the invasion on his person, so is arrested, and charged with having a bladed weapon.

I was witness to police threatening someone with being charged with having a sawed-off shotgun for merely transporting a pneumatic potato cannon in their trunk. Why were they pulled over? Their license plate lights weren't bright enough because a bug had gotten into the lens and died - you know, "let's harass the poors" sort of policing.