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'I can't breath' - The murder of Henry Nowak
Recently a story that was bouncing around right-wing circles on Twitter has broken through to the front pages. Henry Nowak, an eighteen year old white (Polish) man was murdered in the UK by Vikrum Digwa, a Sikh, with his ceremonial blade (a Shastar). When police arrived, Henry was on the floor telling police that he had been stabbed (four times) and that he couldn't breathe (nine times). However, the police ignored Henry's pleas and instead believed the story concocted by Vikrum and his brother, that Henry was a drunk racist who had attacked an innocent brown man.
In a chilling exchange, a policeman responds to Henry's plea that he has been stabbed with 'Don't think you have mate', before dragging him across the gravel and handcuffing him. A policewoman agrees with Vikrum's brother that he hasn't been stabbed, saying 'I know, but we should probably check'. By the time they realise the truth and try to administer first aid, it is too late. Henry died knowing that the people who should have come to save him, instead believed his murderer.
Some other details:
Comparisons are rightly being drawn to the killing of George Floyd. Nigel Farage has demanded 'white hot rage' and has in turn been accused by MPs of inciting violence (there have been riots outside the local police station). The Police Minister has denied that Britain has two-tier policing, while also condemning police guidance that seems to mandate it.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the local police force, and one of the arresting officers has already resigned. We'll see if anything comes of these investigations, although the most likely outcome in my opinion will be just the usual 'lessons will be learned'. Police currently working for the constabulary speak of a climate where an accusation of racism can ruin careers, and where staff are trained to always take the side of racial minority complainants, so it'll be interesting to see if the IOPC investigation finds this to be the case.
The 'two tier justice' claim seems to be cutting through with the public, and clearly rattles the government. One can hope that Henry's death leads to less antiracism training, affirmative action and race action plans, but we'll see.
The opposite of stupidity is not intelligence.
Paper bag testing people and blindly siding with white suspects is dumb. This, doing the opposite, is just as dumb.
He was stabbed and bleeding out on the ground... His murderer was standing over him with a dagger.
How about siding with the person bleeding out? How about giving medical attention to the person bleeding out?
How can you honestly hold your opinion?
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Or, as the Rightful Caliph put it,
"Reversed Stupidity Is Not Intelligence", December 2007
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Yes, this was a bad call from the police in a case where the murderer and his family deliberately set it up to mislead the police and now we're blaming minorities because some individual police officers got misled. Regardless we know that he had been fatally stabbed by the time the police arrived and he was a goner regardless even if the police had done the correct thing.
This is an example of a criminal killing off an ordinary member of society without any real justification and then lying about it in the most convenient way possible (which criminals are wont to do). The murderer has been punished as he should have been. It's a very shitty situation and terrible for the family but it's not some big "race war now" as far right grifters have been trying to make it out to be online.
At most this is a "routine" case of murder with police mishandling that should be investigated (btw, we can't even be sure whether there was mishandling at this stage, the police made a bad judgment call but there's no rule that works for 100% of situations, we have to wait for the official report)
He was only two minutes by ambulance to the nearest hospital. I saw a doctor argue on twitter that his primary source of bleeding out was the subclavian vein, which often clots itself, and that given that he was able to forcefully talk when the police arrived (indicating a certain level of aliveness and blood pressure), but died almost immediately after being handcuffed, that the physical manipulation of the handcuffing itself might have dislodged the clotting that was keeping the bleeding under control and absolutely contributed to his death. That doctor made her statements based on the court reports, not an actual review of the autopsy which has not been released.
I don't think they should charge these cops with murder but I think they should be named and fired for appalling judgment.
Beside the polish doctor pediatrician saying Nowak may have survived his wounds if treated differently, the coroner has now called for an inquest..
Edit: inquiry to begin in front of a jury on Sept 20, 2027. Why is this delayed for so long in the face of massive public interest? Can't wait until authorities start with their 'wait until the inquiry has been completed' suppression tactics.
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From a purely practical standpoint, while not ideal, that rubric would get much better results than the current one.
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Those are the only two options now. That's the society we made. “The question is, which is to be master—that’s all.”
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