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I made the mistake of watching the bodycam footage yesterday. Just reading about this case made me feel angry and upset enough. Watching the bodycam footage was ten times worse.
The murderer smugly claiming to have been assaulted, pointing to a non-existent bruise on his eyelid as evidence. With his last few breaths, Nowak begging the police for help and insisting that he's been stabbed, only to be calmly told by them that he hasn't been. The police officers' inexplicable insistence on cuffing him in spite of the fact that, even if he hadn't been stabbed, he was clearly incapacitated and posing no active threat. One of the police officers calmly instructing his colleague to get the Digwa family's details, apparently not even considering the possibility that one of them might have stabbed Nowak and that perhaps they ought to be arrested.
I don't know how anyone can look at this case and claim in all seriousness that the UK doesn't have a two-tier justice system.
Yes, that's another parallel to Floyd. That bodycam footage was really, really infuriating. I had to remind myself that the kid was already as good as dead when the police showed up, rather than that they caused his death.
It’s incredibly hard to emotionally ignore the fact that his last moments were so hopeless and alone
Millions of people (millions of Britons) will just ignore it, just as they tried to ignore the story entirely. Because it's inconvenient. Because it makes them look bad. Because if their own logic about systems were applied consistently, they would have to grapple with the fact that they were and are complicit in the murder of Henry Nowak. The Be Kind people who think they embrace empathy are literally out in force doing the Norm McDonald meme and I've yet to see a single one offer more than the stingiest, passive voice PR statement - and that only under duress.
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