A day after Sikh man Vickrum Digwa was given a life sentence for stabbing 18-year-old student Henry Nowak and then lying to the police that Nowak subjected him to racial abuse, MAGA activists questioned why there was no outrage over the UK death. The incident took place in December 2025 and the trial ended with a life sentence given to Digwa who stabbed Nowak with his Sikh dagger.
Moments before Nowak died, he told police officers "I can't breathe" as he lay dying in handcuffs. The police handcuffed him because they believed Digwa's claim that he was a victim of a racist attack.
Footage released by the force, with permission from Nowak's family, showed him pleading "I've been stabbed" and an officer replying "I don't think you have mate". "Henry told officers that he could not breathe nine times. He told them that he had been stabbed four times. Henry was pulled across the gravel, his hands forced behind his back and he was placed in handcuffs," Nowak's father Mark said.
In the footage, a police officer asked Henry: "What's your name, mate?" Nowak, who was lying on his back on the ground, faintly replies: "Henry." As the video continued, Digwa stepped into the frame. He claims Nowak had taken his turban off and grabbed him by the hair. The officer asked Digwa if he was injured, to which Digwa replied: "Yeah, yeah, I've got a swollen eye here, a little bruise here."
While being handcuffed, Nowak says "I can't breathe" another three times. The officer said, "He says he's been stabbed, so let's just check him." He appeared to briefly lift Nowak's shirt around the belt area before he was left to lie on his side. A female officer asked: "Where do you think he's been stabbed? In the face?" A male voice replied: "He hasn't been stabbed."
Nowak suffered stab wounds to his legs and a fatal wound to his heart from a 21cm (8in) blade that Digwa said he carried as part of his Sikh faith.
Where is the same outrage from when George Floyd died?
After the bodycam footage was released, MAGA activists compared the situation to the death of George Floyd and questioned why there was no outrage for Henry Nowak. Floyd was an African-American man killed by a white police officer in Minnesota in 2020.
"Where is the same outrage from when George Floyd died?" Benny Johnson asked. "How does this happen in the UK in 2026? Enough is enough. We demand full transparency, accountability, and real justice for Henry and his family," Paul A Szypula wrote. "Send the video to everyone you know showing how heinously Nowak was treated by the police in his dying moments and how the police cravenly kowtowed to his murderer. Legacy mainstream media, same ones who wrote about George Floyd millions of times, are dead silent about Nowak," Elon Musk wrote.
