Precisely - there is no reason to believe that stories in newspapers represent what actually happened; equally, just because a story isn't reported that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

To judge the truth of stories you have to dig a bit deeper, take into account the things that could distort reporting and so forth. Reporters start off anyway wanting to get it right. The distortion is imposed from higher up - the people in charge want to give stories the right kind of spin that will appeal to the people who need to be ingratiated, and won't offend the people who musn't be offended. That can even mean the readers, though they are pretty low in the pecking order, below the owners and the advertisers.

This story seems intrinsically plausible. Anybody whose ever been on the wrong side of the police in that kind of situation knows that.
Whether it happened exactly that way, who can tell? Worse things happen every day, that's true enough.