Chameleon Magazine

In my opinion, the recent killing of Henry was completed and finalised by the police they should be subject to a full and transparent investigation.

The police are public servants. Their duty is to protect life, gather evidence, and investigate facts. They are not there to act as judge and jury.

What concerns me is that Henry was handcuffed and charged while he was dying before checking to see if there was any truth in his statement about being stabbed. To me, that shows that officers had already decided he was guilty before a full investigation had taken place.

Some people can try to disagree with that conclusion, but it is the conclusion many members of the public have drawn from what they have seen.

What makes that concern stronger is the fact that the same treatment was not applied to everyone else present. That naturally raises questions about why Henry was singled out and what information officers relied upon when making those decisions.

My view is that when officers as public servants when they arrive at a scene, their first priority should be preserving life. Not arresting a man who is struggling to even sit up due to his injuries.

If someone says they have been stabbed, or appears seriously injured, the immediate focus should be on identifying injuries, assessing medical needs, and providing urgent assistance, this was not done and anyone thats says the situation was confused needs to have their head looked at. 

The police were absolutely responsible for helping end his life. Questions about blame, responsibility, racism, criminality, or guilt should come after immediate threats to life have been addressed.

Life comes first.

Everything else comes second.

That is not a political statement. It is a basic principle.

The purpose of an investigation should be to establish exactly why all the police officers failed to assess the the situation properly, why didn’t the check Henry for stab wounds, why didn’t they call an ambulance immediately, and why handcuffs a man who could Harold hold himself up. The act of pushing his head into the ground to get handcuffs on him must have affected the death of Henry . 

When mistakes like this are made, the public deserves honesty. The police officers should be stood down until after the investigation.

The procedures that were followed were wrong, the public deserves an explanation. Either way, transparency is essential.

The death of a young man should never be brushed aside, and legitimate questions about police conduct should never be dismissed simply because they are uncomfortable.

The public deserves answers.

Henry’s family deserves answers.

And the truth deserves to be established through a proper investigation.