It’s that easy. Just get a hot-button word like “switchblade” inserted into the conversation, and many people will believe from now until doomsday he was carrying a concealed illegal switchblade. Even if it was a nail file etc. That’s how you do it.
It’s certainly possible the police are lying. It’s possible any report that says only a “knife” was found is incorrect too.
There are plenty of reasons to criticize their behavior in this case. I don’t see a reason to latch on to insisting it was only a regular pocket knife found.
It’s irrelevant, in other words, whether he was carrying a switchblade, a regular knife, or a bazooka for that matter. Once apprehended he had a reasonable expectation of safety. Obviously he was alive when apprehended with no injuries. Obviously he suffered some kind of traumatic injury after apprehension. There is no excuse for that. That is what should be the focus here.
a) Possession or sale, etc., prohibited.
It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, carry, or possess any knife with an automatic spring or
other device for opening and/or closing the blade, commonly known as a switch-blade knife.
(b) Penalties. Any person violating the provisions of this section, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not
more than $500 or be imprisoned for not more than 1 year, or both, in the discretion of the court.
(City Code, 1950, art. 24, §155; 1966, art. 19, §160; 1976/83, art. 19, §185.) (Ord. 44-057.)