UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer breaks silence after watching bodycam footage of Henry Nowak, being handcuffed and arrested before his death.
According to Reuters, British police faced a national backlash on Tuesday, June 2, over the inflammatory case of an 18-year-old student who was handcuffed as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer falsely alleged a racist attack.
Henry Nowak died after the knife attack in the southern England city of Southampton last December.
His killer Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday, having lied to police at the time that Nowak had assaulted him.
In police bodycam footage, Nowak is seen lying on the street saying "I've been stabbed" and "I can't breathe" as officer responds, "I don't think you have, mate."
Starmer said there were "serious questions" to answer, including how "allegations of racism informed or fed into the decision-making in that particular case."
He told reporters, "It is impossible to watch that footage. I have seen the body cam footage, it’s harrowing, and I have to say, as a father of a 17-year-old boy, I felt sick watching it.”
“It is absolutely right that the IOPC (Independent Office for Police Conduct) are looking at this. There are clearly serious questions that need to be addressed, not least how accusations of racism informed the decision making in this case,” Starmer added.
Judge William Mousley acknowledged in court on Monday that the case had stirred racial tension across Britain.
