https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2024/07/03/zelda-maste...
Most probably don't - but who's asking them? And the perception of high violent crime rates gets many people anxious and scared, and eager to rubber-stamp all sorts of zero tolerance/zero intelligence machismo policing and justice.
Knife crime isn't a joke.
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.
Other examples include students for fighting when they use self-defense.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/03/man-...
It's a 6 inch metal blade, and he was walking along a public street, holding it unsheathed in front of him. He still had it out in front of him when he approached the police and they arrested him.
I'd expect the same thing for any 6 inch blade being brandished in public, and would be worried about anyone doing such a thing.
But jailtime is too much for being just stupid.
> "We take a zero tolerance to bladed articles in public, and Bray has fallen afoul of this," said Sergeant Spellman of the police's Patrol Investigations Unit, "It is possible to find fidget toys that aren’t six-inch blades. It is possible not to walk down the street holding them out in front of you. With a bit more self-awareness, Bray could have avoided contact with us completely."
Was he arrested while emulating Zelda NES with it? That would explain how this happened and also why they’re so upset: not because they care about Zelda or not, but because the significant risk of someone taking a fatal injury to a six inch blade held out in front of you on a public walkway.
Whatever the local knife crime rate might be, if this guy has no links to criminal activity or gangs, then I'm thinking that 4 months in His Majesty's chokey (plus a £154 fine) is really not a win for either the Crown's or public's interests.
Lecture the guy for being an idiot, give him a menu of (1) 4 hours in the stocks, in public, under an "I Wuz A Moron" sign, (2) 400 hours charity work for a Zeldathon-linked charity, and (3) £4,000 fine, and tell him to pick any two of those.
>What’s missing from every report about this I could find, and what is so crucial to understanding this story, however is that Anthony Bray is a repeat offender with a long rap sheet and numerous prison sentences, several of which were for burglary including serial burglary. In 2011, Bray was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison after getting “three strikes” for burgling residences. But his run-ins with the law go back to 1989 and he was in court numerous times throughout the 90s as well.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2024/07/03/zelda-maste...
Article is lite on details, but if no priors and no threats, I would say maybe a £1000 File and community service would be enough.
I do not know the laws in the UK, is it illegal to carry any type of blade in public ?
Unless I'm wrong, which I likely am.
Yes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2024/07/03/zelda-maste...
My impression from what I have seen through the years in the news (I live in the US), this is the case. I remember seeing London police would setup check points in the metro and check passengers for knifes. To my surprise, most common weapons they would find - kitchen knives.