Fact check: Released footage does not show police officer’s sharp nails

An alleged screenshot from the police body-worn video footage related to the murder of Henry Nowak has spread on social media.

One social media user pointed towards one of the police officer’s nails in the alleged screenshot: “The female cop’s nails turning the surgery glove into a claw, dear lord. Trump assassination attempt level photo.”

Another said the image shows that “demonic hands (claws) restrain him.”

Evaluation

This screenshot does not appear in the video released by police. The hand showing the nails mentioned in one post never appears in that position, and does not show such nails.

It is likely that this image has been altered with artificial intelligence. There are other inconsistencies between the alleged screenshot and the verified video from police.

The facts

The image that has been shared appears to be in much higher definition than the body-cam footage that was released by police.

The moment captured in the alleged screenshot shows what appears to be the moment just before Mr Nowak’s left hand is handcuffed. It shows a police officer wearing blue gloves handcuffing Mr Novak’s left wrist and a second pair of hands with blue gloves gripping Mr Novak’s right arm.

A very similar moment does appear in the body-cam footage that police released. However, there are some clear differences.

In the alleged screenshot there appears to be only one wound on Mr Novak’s left hand with the rest of his hand appearing clean, but in the video there are multiple marks.

In the alleged screenshot Mr Nowak appears to be wearing a very large metal bangle made of one piece of metal with a hole in it. In the video (1.21) it is clear that Mr Nowak is wearing a multi-segmented watch strap.

But the largest single difference is the right hand of the second police officer. In the screenshot it is curled around Mr Nowak’s arm, with its fingers on display and showing what appear to be large nails inside a blue glove. However, in the video the fingers of the hand are largely hidden behind Mr Nowak’s arm and there are no such nails on display.

Links

Alleged screenshot (archived)

Post on X (archived)

Second post on X (archived)

Third post on X (archived)

Police bodycam footage

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