British police face backlash after victim handcuffed while dying in Southampton
Sarah Young And Marissa Davison
Southampton, England: British police have faced a national outcry over the incendiary case of handcuffing an 18-year-old student who was dying from stab wounds after his killer falsely claimed a racist attack.
Henry Nowak died following a knife attack in Southampton, southern England, in December. Police body camera footage shows Nowak lying on the street while his killer stands nearby and says, “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe.”
A police officer responds: “I don’t think you know, man.”
Sikh murderer Vickrum Digwa, 23, was sentenced to life in prison this week for lying to police when Nowak attacked him in a racist attack.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday (UK time) that he was disturbed by the video and that there were “serious questions” that needed to be answered, including “how allegations of racism informed or fed the decision-making process in this particular case.”
“It is impossible to watch these images and not understand that these questions must be answered,” Starmer said.
Judge William Mousley acknowledged in court that the case had sparked racial tensions across Britain.
He told Digwa that he did not believe Nowak had said anything racist to him. “You are the only person who made this claim and it is completely contradictory to his previous character,” he said.
After the hearing at which the sentence was announced, the victim’s father, Mark Nowak, said the case was not about racism or religion.
But Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform Party, which tops the polls, said it was an example of the rights of ethnic minorities trumping the rights of white Britons.
“The fear of being called a racist was greater than dealing with the murder of Henry Nowak,” he said in a statement. “We must respond with pure cold anger.”
Later on Tuesday, several hundred people chanted “I can’t breathe” at a protest outside Southampton police station, including anti-immigration activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known under the pseudonym Tommy Robinson.
The London Telegraph reported It was stated that protesters threw bottles, bricks and wheelie bins at riot police on a street near where the murder took place. More protests have been announced for this week.
Digwa stabbed Nowak with a knife, which he said he was allowed to carry because of exemptions for Sikhs to own ceremonial daggers. When the police arrived, Digwa said his turban fell off and his eye was injured.
Nowak’s family described his treatment by police as “inhumane and degrading” but in a statement outside court his father said his death “should not be used to create further division, hatred or tension”.
This was echoed by UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who told parliament on Tuesday that everyone is equal before the law and called for calm during the investigation.
Warning that threats against the police and provocative comments had worsened the situation, he said, “We must condemn those who derive personal political benefit from the tragedy.”
He said public services should only consider the risk posed by the person, not race or religion. “Whatever changes are made, it is important that no one over-corrects or course-corrects such that we are all no longer equal before the law as citizens,” Mahmood said, referencing previous efforts to combat racism in the police force.
Farage sought to draw parallels with the killing of George Floyd in the US in 2020. This sparked the Black Lives Matter movement. Floyd said “I can’t breathe” after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.
Nowak died shortly after being handcuffed by police. When they realized he was injured, they removed the handcuffs and started CPR.
The police force, Hampshire Police, has apologized.
In a separate statement Tuesday, police said one of the officers involved in the arrest had resigned and three other officers were being considered as witnesses in the investigation.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said it had received numerous requests to increase Digwa’s minimum sentence of 21 years, adding that legal officers had 28 days from the date of sentencing to decide on any changes.
Reuters, AP
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