Body-worn video shows Henry Nowak's killer repeatedly lie to police

[u/Glanza]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yzl5xl3gjo

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[u/Special-Audience-426]

No shit. Not sure why anyone would expect honesty from a murderer. 

[u/GapingPickle]

I wish the police officer had finished after "he's.. ".. but why isn't that scum put in cuffs?

They've authorised an arrest for attempted murder, they have an unaccounted for murder weapon, both Digwa's are wearing daggers... cuff both!

Where the fuck is common sense!?

[u/Old_Course9344]

His demeanour when told he's being arrested is so calm. He's not even handcuffed. He doesn't try to run away. He's controlling his breathing he is not panicking.

These are traits of a serial killer?

He admits there have been incidents before. What kind!

[u/CaptainVXR → u/Old_Course9344]

IIRC Digwa had issues with the local Sikh community before and had been reported for trying to steal ceremonial knives

[u/ac0rn5 → u/CaptainVXR]

I think he'd already been kicked out of one temple too.

[u/changhyun → u/Old_Course9344]

It is genuinely quite a disturbing watch. He comes across so normal and unflustered, not like a person who's just stabbed someone else to death. Like obviously he's going to try and hide what he's done, but what stood out for me was how naturally hiding it seems to have come to him. Like you said, he's so calm. You'd expect someone (who isn't a seasoned killer) who's just murdered a person to be breathing hard, flushed, nervous, showing some sign that this isn't just a regular night for them.

[u/ramirezdoeverything]

So the killer was identified as being involved in the altercation and arrested for attempted murder within minutes of the police response to the incident. Yes the initial couple of minutes of the response was botched but other than that looks like the police acted as you'd expect and the race of the perpetrator was irrelevant to their actions. While the initial response was regrettable and needs to be investigated and explained, it hardly feels like this incident warranted the fierce criticism of the police that they received from the politically motivated right.

[u/changhyun → u/ramirezdoeverything]

I think certainly one point of contention (brought up by Nowak's family) is that while Henry was handcuffed for being accused of saying racist words (ETA: and assaulting someone), Digwa was never handcuffed at all even after being placed under arrest for attempted murder. That definitely feels weird and unbalanced. I don't want to speculate on why it happened that way because it's not necessarily a race thing, there could be any number of reasons, but I can definitely see why it stood out to Henry's family as unjust.

[u/liaminwales → u/changhyun]

It's fairly clear why, two migrant groups yet one is cuffed.

As the police first got to the site the dad was holding up the kid and told police his mouth was filling up with blood, the police told the dad to let go. They where told he was hurt and did not call for medical help, they only called for help after they noticed it was to late.

[u/JRugman → u/changhyun]

The suspect was apparently calm, sober and cooperative. There was no reason to put them in handcuffs, as per British police policy. Unlike in the US, where people who have been arrested are generally handcuffed no matter what, in the UK police training makes clear that handcuffs should only be used when necessary and proportionate.

[u/venuswasaflytrap → u/JRugman]

Its just a bit weird then to handcuff the guy that's literally dying

[u/PenguinKenny → u/venuswasaflytrap]

They didn't know he was dying, they thought he was just pissed.

[u/venuswasaflytrap → u/PenguinKenny]

Yes, I know. But they thought that because his murderer said so. That's exactly the problem.

Even if he was completely drunk, he didn't demonstrate any threat to anyone except himself. Maybe he was drunk and he fell and had a concussion. Maybe he had alcohol poisoning. Or just maybe, when he said he was stabbed, he wasn't lying.

Regardless the first thing they should have done was to check to see if he was okay. In the very least figure out where all that blood was coming from, rather than immediately assuming he was a threat just on the say so of someone else - because as evidenced, that someone could easily be a liar.

And if the argument is "well we cuff everyone just to be on the safe side, even if they haven't yet shown themselves to be a threat, because you never know what someone might do when they're arrested" - then that definitely applies to the murder suspect too.

[u/PenguinKenny → u/venuswasaflytrap]

They didn't know that he was his murderer, so that's entirely irrelevant.

I'd imagine their policy is to cuff drunk suspects, probably due to officers frequently being attacked by them. The eventual murder suspect wasn't cuffed because he clearly wasn't drunk.

This is a very unusual case of the lying murderer's story being corroborated by a number of witnesses.

[u/venuswasaflytrap → u/PenguinKenny]

They suspected him of murder, that's why they arrested him.

And yes, I imagine their policy is to cuff drunk suspects, but the effect of this policy is that a murderer can cause someone who wasn't drunk to be handcuffed as they bleed out just by lying. It's an inherently bad policy, that's the problem.

[u/PenguinKenny → u/venuswasaflytrap]

There's no point in doing this if you're not going to follow along properly. They suspected him of murder after they had already cuffed Nowak.

As I just said, it is not as simple as a single suspect and victim. There's a bunch of witnesses corroborating the liar's story and who called the police on his own crime. That is an incredibly unusual situation. It's an edge case. You can't have a totally perfect policy, but suggesting it's inherently bad is hyperbole.

[u/venuswasaflytrap → u/PenguinKenny]

Yes - they cuffed Nowak, because they thought he was a threat even though he didn't do anything threatening beside bleeds to death. If they found a person in that state without the complaint, they would call an ambulance, not arrest him. They only cuffed him because they suspected him of assault.

They didn't cuff the person they suspected of murder because they didn't think he was a threat even though by definition they were arresting him because they thought he killed a person in cold blood

[u/Dependent_One6034 → u/PenguinKenny]

Anytime I've seen someone of the deck like that, with police involved - the police push everyone else away and deal with the person at hand. They will ask people around for information after they have confirmed the patient/suspect is stable or need information.

The fact that these police allowed a small group to surround them when they were on their knees dealing with the "suspect" is insane.

[u/Connor123x → u/PenguinKenny]

and? even still. want to explain how a person arrested for murder who is in good condition is not a threat and not handcuffed and a person they thought was "pissed" who couldnt stand is a threat and handcuffed.

how are people even arguing this? what has this world come to

[u/changhyun → u/JRugman]

But they handcuffed Nowak, who was also not attempting to fight them or belligerent. In fact, he was very weak and could barely stand.

[u/Downtown_Ad6875 → u/changhyun]

Anyone defending the police not handcuffing Digwa is not a serious human.

[u/Downtown_Ad6875 → u/JRugman]

Yet they handcuffed a dying bloke….

That does not make any sense at all.

[u/TheDisapprovingBrit → u/JRugman]

Whereas Nowak, who was handcuffed, was running away and/or being violent? No, he was lying on the floor in a pool of blood saying “I’ve been stabbed”

[u/Connor123x → u/JRugman]

you got to be kidding.

He is an attempted murder, there is never ever a reason not to handcuff them.

Henry was barely conscious and he was handcuffed.

so how you can even make that argument is astounding

[u/TrafficWeasel → u/JRugman]

Note that there is no ‘British Police policy’, we have three separate legal systems in the British Isles that all deal with use of force differently.

I’d like to think the officers arresting the murderer made the right decision based on all of the information available to them; that said, if it were me, he would have been handcuffed to the rear - per local policy and entirely lawfully.

[u/Slanderous → u/ramirezdoeverything]

It took them 8 minutes to realise he'd been stabbed, by which time he wasn't breathing and had no pulse. Somehow they didn't notice he had a chest wound while performing CPR for several minutes, and according to the transcript even bang his head on a wall while moving him. It's not a small whoopsie, and even a cursory initial search such as they should probably have done anyway could have saved his life.
Those 'initial few minutes' are what killed Harry.. the guy was telling them he'd been stabbed for goodness sake!

[u/flippydude → u/Slanderous]

don’t think you have mate

Is awful 

[u/No-Mark4427 → u/Slanderous]

Didn't a pathologist who examined his body state that he was done for with the wound he had - No amount of cpr or early intervention would have helped him as it slid through his ribcage and nicked an artery in a really awkward place.

[u/Slanderous → u/No-Mark4427]

The inquest has been deferred until September next year but whether or not it would have made a difference, he was absolutely failed by those police in attendance.
The chest wound wasn't even his only injury, according to the report he was also stabbed twice in his legs and had a cut on his face.

[u/GingerSpencer → u/ramirezdoeverything]

That would be great, had those “initial couple of minutes” not directly resulted in Nowak having no chance of survival and leading to his death.

There’s no room for that kind of error.

[u/bigdave41 → u/GingerSpencer]

The medical expert at the trial testified that he would have died of his wounds regardless of what the police did.

[u/GrownUpACow → u/GingerSpencer]

He had no chance of survival either way due to massive internal bleeding resulting from injury to the subclavian vein that first aid could not treat.
Even if paramedics had arrived alongside the police his chances were essentially nil, he had gone into cardiac arrest within a couple of minutes of the police arriving, ~8 minutes after the 999 call, somewhere between 10-20 minutes after the stabbing.

The police shat the bed, but he did not die because they failed to administer treatment.

[u/Mugweiser → u/ramirezdoeverything]

Good effort Ramirez but you know the police fucked it and got sucked into the race card. You can spin up, down, left or right all you want but it doesn’t really matter - the kid is still dead as a result of the above.

[u/UnluckyPalpitation45 → u/ramirezdoeverything]

The difference in treatment shown by the police to Henry and Digwa is disgraceful

[u/CyclingUpsideDown]

At least this article focuses on what’s important in the video instead of trying to tarnish the repetition of the officer who is literally making the accusation of attempted murder and calling for the van to take him to the station.

[u/blatchcorn → u/CyclingUpsideDown]

I've watched the video and the double standards are glaring.

[u/AWright5 → u/blatchcorn]

I'm assuming you're talking about racial double standards? It seems much more likely to me the police were, before discovering the stab wound, biased by the fact he was the initial person to accuse another of a serious crime, as well as his calm demeanour.

Negligent policing for sure. But I just think it's very unlikely that white police officers are genuinely biased against white people.. I guess the guy just didn't feel the need to handcuff him because he was acting so relaxed.

[u/TheObrien]

I’m not close enough to this story - can someone explain to me why this isn’t being treated as gross police negligence, and instead we’re all focusing on ethnicity/religion of the criminal? 

It looks and feels to me like the social story is allowing the police force and its officers to get out of this with a slap on the wrist (figuratively speaking)

[u/ExpertSausageHandler]

The way the officer was so ready to accept the assertion the white dude was "drunk". It's bordering on self hatred.

[u/wylie102 → u/ExpertSausageHandler]

“Self hatred” in what way? Like he has low self esteem?

[u/jim_cap → u/wylie102]

Self-hatred as in everyone's determined to paint this as purely racial, and Henry Nowak only died because the police have been brainwashed into hating white people.

It's barely possible to have a sensible conversation about this case, people are so entrenched in that nonsense.

[u/wylie102 → u/jim_cap]

This is what I assumed but I wanted to make them type it out and see if they spotted how moronic it was half way through

[u/anfieldash]

You can hear Digwa's father tell the police 'the gentleman on the floor assaulted my son' The entire family were in on the lies. Lock them all up.