“我喘不上气”：一个英国学生的死，和一个被先相信的谎言

Today we'll talk about something that made many people in the UK very sad.

It's also something that made many people start to reflect.

The story happened in the UK, in a city called Southampton.

The time was late last year.

The main character was an eighteen-year-old university student.

He was called Henry Nowak.

Henry was still very young, with a long road ahead.

But that one night changed everything.

That night, Henry was outside.

Another man, a few years older than him,

named Digwa, attacked him.

Digwa used a knife to stab Henry.

Wounded him badly.

Henry fell to the ground, losing a lot of blood.

He urgently needed someone to save him.

In the UK, when something like this happens,

people call the police right away.

The police quickly arrived at the scene.

The police coming should have been life-saving.

But the problem appeared precisely here.

When the police arrived,

there were two people at the scene:

one was the gravely injured Henry.

The other was the attacker, Digwa.

Both were talking,

but what they said was completely opposite.

Digwa was cunning.

He got there first and lied to the police.

He claimed instead that he was the victim.

He also said that, because of his race,

he was being hated and attacked by the other person.

This was an utter, total lie.

But the lie was told fast, and sounded real.

In that moment, the police

actually believed the attacker first.

And so, the most absurd scene unfolded.

The police didn't go save the real victim first.

Instead, they took the gravely injured Henry,

treated him as a suspect,

and put handcuffs on him.

By now Henry was extremely weak.

Using his last strength, he said to the police:

'I can't breathe.

I can't breathe.' ”

In English this is 'I can't breathe.'

He was telling the police:

I'm about to be gone, please save me.

But that police officer

only coldly replied:

'I think you're fine.' ”

By the time the police finally came to their senses,

unlocked the cuffs and began first aid,

everything was already too late.

Henry was gone forever.

He was only eighteen.

Speaking of this, some of you may think of

George Floyd in America a few years ago.

The one who also cried 'I can't breathe',

and in the end died in police hands — a Black man.

Yes, it's precisely because of this sentence

that Henry's case sparked huge debate in the UK.

Some used the moment to say

the police are biased against white people.

Others said it's not like that at all.

This thing

even triggered some intense protests.

Today we won't take any side.

Because there's one point both sides agree on —

that is: that night,

the person who was truly calling for help wasn't believed.

Later, the truth, in court,

was reconstructed bit by bit.

The jury found

that the one who truly attacked and killed was Digwa.

He not only took a life,

he also, at the scene, lied to the police.

In the end, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment,

with at least twenty-one years in prison.

And the local police,

for their handling that night,

publicly apologized.

Now, there's also an independent investigation,

specifically looking into:

what exactly the police got wrong that night.

At the end of the show, let's think together.

The most piercing part of this thing

actually has nothing to do with skin color or political stance.

What pierces is a most basic question:

when two people stand before you,

one telling the truth, one telling a lie,

on what basis do you decide whom to believe?

Every one of us

could, in some instant,

become the one making the judgment.

And could also become the one

desperately telling the truth,

yet not being believed.

So finally, I want to ask you.

If one day,

someone before you says they're in pain, that they badly need help,

but the way they look makes you a little doubtful,

what would you do?

Would you choose to believe them first?