Video shows UK police handcuffing young man stabbed after false accusation of racism and causes wave of outrage

Video shows UK police handcuffing victim of knife attack
British police face a wave of national outrage this Tuesday (2) over the controversial case of an 18-year-old student who was handcuffed as he agonized with stab wounds, after his killer falsely alleged a racist attack.
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Henry Nowak died after the knife attack in the city of Southampton, in southern England, in December 3, 2025.
His killer, Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday (1st) for lying to police at the time, claiming that Nowak had assaulted him.
In footage from a police officer's body camera, Nowak appears lying in the street saying "I've been stabbed" and "I can't breathe", while a police officer responds: "I don't think so, mate".
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said there were "serious questions" to be answered, including how "allegations of racism influenced or contributed to the decision-making in this particular case."
"It is impossible to watch this footage and not realize that these questions need to be answered," Starmer told reporters. Judge William Mousley acknowledged in court on Monday that the case had generated racial tensions across Britain.
Image recorded by a police officer's body camera shows Henry Nowak being handcuffed after being stabbed in Southampton, United Kingdom; case sparked outrage in the country
HAMPSHIRE & ISLE OF WIGHT CONSTABULARY / AFP
Nowak died shortly after being handcuffed by police. Once they realized he was injured, officers released him and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Hampshire Police apologized. In a separate statement released on Tuesday, police said one of the officers involved in the arrest had resigned, while three others were being treated as witnesses in the investigation.
Far-right uses case as platform
Nigel Farage, whose far-right anti-immigration party Reform UK leads in opinion polls, said this was an example of how the rights of ethnic minorities overlap with those of white British people.
"The fear of being called racist was greater than dealing with with the murder of Henry Nowak," he said in a statement.
"We should respond to this with pure, cold indignation."
Protesters hold two photos, one of Henry Nowak and the other of handcuffs, during a protest outside Southampton Central Police Station following the conviction of Vikrum Digwa for the murder of student Henry Nowak in Southampton
Isabel Infantes/Reuters
Protest in Southampton
A protest held on Tuesday in Outside Southampton police station gathered a few hundred people chanting "I can't breathe", including anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson.
Further protests were announced for this week.
Digwa stabbed Nowak with a knife he said he was allowed to carry due to exemptions given to Sikhs to have ceremonial daggers.
When police arrived, Digwa said his turban had been ripped off and he had a wound on his back. eye.
Nowak's family called the treatment he received from police "inhumane and degrading", but in a statement outside court his father said his son's death should not be "used to create further division, hatred or tension".
That view was shared by British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who told parliament on Tuesday that everyone is equal before the law and called for calm during the investigation.
"We must condemn those who seek personal political gain from tragedy," she said, warning that threats against police officers and inflammatory comments were making the situation worse.
She said public services should only assess the risk a person poses, not their race or religion.
Referring to previous efforts to combat racism in policing, Mahmood said: "Whatever changes are made, it is important that no one overdoes the corrections or the direction, so that we as citizens are no longer equal in the face of law."
Reformist leader Farage tried to draw parallels with the 2020 murder of George Floyd in the US, which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement. Floyd said "I can't breathe" as a police officer pressed his knee against his neck for several minutes.

Source: G1