"I can't breathe, I've been stabbed": an eighteen-year-old is handcuffed in the United Kingdom while he is dying

LondonPolice error or indication of structural bias in the treatment of victims? The dissemination by Hampshire police, in southern England, of images of the arrest of Henry Nowak, an eighteen-year-old youth, while he was seriously injured on the ground, has reopened this Tuesday in the United Kingdom the debate on security force protocols and decision-making in emergency situations. At the same time, it has sparked a controversy between the Labour government and Nigel Farage's far-right Reform Party, which has accused the police of unequal treatment, in this case against white people, "due to the dangerous ideology of so-called anti-racism, which allows people to be treated differently based on race".

In the images, Nowak appears on the ground assuring that he has been stabbed – he says so up to nine times – while being handcuffed by officers who ignore the warning of one of the witnesses who alerted them to the incident, and who warns them that the boy "has his mouth full of blood." Instead of performing an immediate medical evaluation and calling an ambulance, the officers read him his rights, after handcuffing him. When the boy insists that he has been stabbed – five times – one of the police officers replies: "I don't think you've been stabbed, mate." Immobilized, almost in a fetal position, Nowak is, in reality, agonizing. A few moments later, he dies. His father has denounced "inhumane and degrading" treatment by the police.

the murder of the Minneapolis police of the black citizen George FloydIn statements to the media this evening, Farage repeated what he had commented on social media this morning: "I feel deep indignation at the way the police treated someone who had been stabbed. They didn't believe him. The last words on Earth for this man [Henry Nowak] were the reading of his rights, all for a false accusation of racism. The police – the leader of the Reform Party continued – have been trained and instructed to take this more seriously than anything else: at that moment, a false accusation of racism weighed more than the fact that someone was dying."

The body camera footage from the Hampshire police officers who attended the incident was released on Monday evening, shortly after the sentencing of Vickrum Digwa, who was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 21 years. Prime Minister Keir Starmer commented on it in the following terms: "I have seen the body camera footage. It is chilling and I have to say that, as the father of a seventeen-year-old boy, I felt sick while watching it." Starmer also said that an investigation into the facts is necessary, "including how accusations of racism influence police decision-making".

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood appeared in the House of Commons this afternoon amidst an explosive climate to state that the recording is "disturbing and tragic", and that the Independent Office for Police Conduct – the body that oversees the standards of police actions – will have to clarify the facts and, "if necessary, assign responsibility".

Following the dissemination of the images, several clashes between demonstrators and the police in Southampton were recorded on Tuesday night. Around three hundred people protested against law enforcement in front of the city's central police station, before heading towards the assassin's family home. So far, there have been two arrests. The police are analyzing the images recorded during the riots and are considering whether more arrests are necessary.

A ritual dagger and the murder weapon

The events took place on December 3, 2025, on Belmont Road, in the Portswood area (Southampton, 120 kilometers southwest of London). Nowak was returning home after going out with friends when he encountered Vickrum Digwa. According to the prosecution, there was no provocation from the young man. Nevertheless, Digwa attacked him with a 21-centimeter knife, stabbing him five times, one of which was fatal to the chest.

Severely injured, Nowak tried to flee, climbed onto a dumpster and a wall, leaving a trail of blood while calling for help. Several neighbors alerted emergency services and the police upon hearing the screams. But when the officers arrived, Digwa had already begun to construct a false version of events, as has been demonstrated in the trial. The killer claimed that Nowak had hurled racial slurs at him, had assaulted him, and had torn off his turban, which Sikhs habitually wear. The judge, months later, would describe these claims as a ""wicked lie" intended to mislead the officers and "justify the unjustifiable".

During the trial, the prosecution dismantled Digwa's defense point by point. The accused insisted he was acting in self-defense and that the knife was part of his religious equipment: in the United Kingdom, there is a legal exception that allows Sikhs to carry the kirpan. However, the prosecution proved that the Sikh kirpan the killer was carrying was small and symbolic, while the fatal weapon used was an additional knife, with a much longer blade, with no religious justification. Nor was there any evidence that Nowak had initiated any aggression or had uttered racist insults to the attacker. In the images, however, he does appear without his turban.

On May 28, the jury found Digwa guilty of murder. And this Monday, Judge William Mousley informed him of the sentence. The judge remarked that Digwa had brought "shame to his family, his community, and his religion." His mother, Kiran Kaur, has also been found guilty of assisting an offender for having helped him after the crime. She will be sentenced at a later date.