The footage shows police arresting, handcuffing, and ignoring Henry Nowak’s cries after a Sikh fatally stabbed him.
Henry Nowak, a white teenager headed for home in the Southampton suburb of Portswood, England, was savagely attacked on December 3 by a knife-wielding Sikh named Vickrum Digwa. The attacker stabbed Nowak several times, filmed his desperate attempt to flee, and loomed over him as blood filled his chest cavity. Digwa, joined by members of his family at the scene, falsely told police that Nowak was the real aggressor—claiming he was a racist who attacked Digwa, called him a “Paki,” and knocked off his turban.
Nowak was arrested for assault, handcuffed, and treated as a criminal based entirely on Digwa’s lies. Body camera footage reveals the teenager repeatedly told officers he could not breathe before losing consciousness.
Digwa was convicted of murder last week and sentenced to a minimum of 21 years in prison.
Hundreds of protesters swarmed Southampton Central Police Station on Tuesday carrying English flags and signs that read “All lives matter,” demanding justice for Nowak. Some demonstrators recited the Lord’s Prayer, denounced police involved in his arrest, and chanted “Christ is king.” Others yelled “I can’t breathe”—a phrase Nowak reportedly said to police nine times before losing consciousness.
A spokesman for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary confirmed that three officers who responded to the scene remain serving while one has resigned. The Independent Office for Police Conduct, investigating the incident, is treating the officers as witnesses with no restrictions applied.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the body camera footage as “harrowing” and affirmed it was appropriate for the IOPC to investigate. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticized Britain’s “race-based laws” and “two-tiered policing.” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage demanded England’s attorney general ensure Digwa never walks free again. British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood reiterated that everyone in the country is equal before the law, stated there would be no vigilante justice, and emphasized the Labour government’s commitment to halving knife crime within a decade.
