Double standards for death at the hands of public first responders? On Thursday’s PBS News Hour, co-anchor Amna Nawaz reported a reversal of a 2019 racially charged homicide conviction that she claimed "foreshadowed" the 2020 death of George Floyd via the victim's final words, "I can't breathe."
"A court in Colorado reversed the homicide convictions today for two paramedics who'd been sentenced in the overdose death of Elijah McClain," anchor Amna Nawaz led into the story. "The 23-year-old black man had been forcibly restrained by police as he walked home from a convenience store in 2019. The paramedics injected him with ketamine and were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide after a trial in 2023. Today's ruling sends their cases back to a lower court. McClain's final words, "I can't breathe," foreshadowed those of George Floyd a year later and helped fuel public anger over police tactics across the nation."
Those paramedics were actually with Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics, though police were on the scene of the death, which social media inflamed into a pre-George Floyd “say his name” virtue-signaling opportunity.
Compare that to what Nawaz had to say about a new racially charged “I can’t breathe” incident from the United Kingdom, one conservatives see as proof of their belief that the United Kingdom is engaged in two-tier policing, with one standard for English citizens, who cops have been woke-trained to assume are racist, and a lenient standard for minorities and migrants.
Background: Last December, 18-year-old college student Henry Nowak was stabbed five times in Southampton street by Vickrum Digwa, a British-born son of Sikh Indian nationals. But when the police arrived they handcuffed the stabbing victim Nowak instead, after Digwa (who knew how the race-game was played) falsely claimed Nowak had “racially abused” him. A handcuffed Nowak pled that he had been stabbed and couldn’t breathe. One compassionate police officer is heard to reply via bodycam, “I don’t think you have, mate.” Nowak died minutes later. Digwa was recently found guilty.
Wednesday evening marked the News Hour’s first mention of the Nowak case, yet Nawaz’s insufficiently brief mention led with protests that came in the aftermath of the verdict and subsequent release of the bodycam footage -- not the woke police atrocity that sparked the protests.
PBS anchor Amna Nawaz leads with the protest, not the atrocity itself: "At least 11 officers were injured during clashes last night in...Southampton, where Henry Nowak was killed in December. The release of bodycam footage from the incident has fired up Britain`s far right..." pic.twitter.com/ZNT0WvnNmA
— Clay Waters 🇮🇱 (@claywaters44) June 5, 2026
Nawaz’s hostile 42-second coverage in full:
In the U.K. today, Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned violent protests that erupted over the death of an 18-year-old who was handcuffed by police. At least 11 officers were injured during clashes last night in the city of Southampton, where Henry Nowak was killed in December. The release of bodycam footage from the incident has fired up Britain`s far right, who claim Nowak`s death is proof that police are biased against white people. Nowak`s killer, Vickrum Digwa, who is Sikh, had falsely claimed that he was the victim of a racist attack by Nowak. Digwa was sentenced to life in prison.
While Nawaz eagerly quoted McClain’s “I can’t breathe” words in a left-wing anti-police context as a proto-George Floyd moment, she ignored Nowak’s identical “I can’t breathe” plea at the hands of another callous police force, dismissing the atrocious miscarriage of justice as fuel for the violent “far right.” The only hint of the “breathe” parallel was a still frame of a protest sign featuring the quote. The News Hour aired none of the damning bodycam footage.
