British police are facing intense backlash after bodycam footage showed an 18-year-old student handcuffed as he lay dying from stab wounds. The killer, Vickrum Digwa, falsely claimed the victim attacked him in a racist incident.
Henry Nowak was stabbed in Southampton last December. In police bodycam footage, he can be heard saying "I've been stabbed" and "I can't breathe," while an officer responds "I don't think you have mate."
Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh, used a ceremonial dagger he was permitted to carry under religious exemptions. He was sentenced to life in prison Monday, with a 21-year minimum term.
Nowak's family called the police treatment "inhumane and degrading." His father urged the public not to use the death to "create further division, hatred or tension."
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood condemned the inflammatory rhetoric, saying "nobody should over-correct or course-correct such that all of us as citizens are no longer equal before the law."
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accused the police of fearing being called racist more than prioritizing justice. A protest is expected in Southampton Tuesday evening.