Save for the humanity of passers by and their smartphones, George Floyd’s murder would have been filed away as just one more routine, run-of-the-mill police incident that ended in a “tragic” death.
The horror in the murder of George Floyd does not stop at the killing of an unarmed man who at most, possibly, may have passed a fake 20 dollar bill. And even then, he may not have known it was fake. No doubt racists might deem that justification enough, as it will only have been the tip of the nefarious iceberg that was Floyd’s undoubted life of crime. He was, after all, black.
For the rest of us, deep reflection reveals an aspect of the casual slaying that is nearly as chilling as the scenes of a man slowly expiring before our eyes. Had the images not been captured, it is not simply that justice would not have been served, as thankfully eventually it was; it is that the murder would have passed as just one more routine police “interaction”, to be processed as just another instance of police having no choice but to resort to extreme force to apprehend a violent, drug fuelled criminal – despite the fact that Floyd was anything but violent. Without the humanity of concerned passers by, one imagines the police report might have read “suspect died whilst resisting arrest” or something to that effect, accompanied by a routine coroner’s report showing health issues that explain why he died in that particular moment (for if he only died whilst resisting arrest and not because of it, then some other explanation is needed).
Except we do not need to imagine it. The actual police report released to the press on the day of Floyd’s murder reads:
“Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male believed to be in his 40s, in his car. He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.”
All very tragic but routine.
And one can see just how routine it was for Chauvin in the chilling images of him leisurely choking Floyd to death, without the slightest grimace of discomfort or unease on his face. Neither is there regret nor pity in his eyes for what he later tried to claim was just following police procedure.
Whilst Jesus may love him, Chauvin is currently probably the most reviled individual on the planet. There is already a Wikipedia page on him, securing his infamy for as long as there is an internet. And once he has read it – for without doubt he will stumble across it over the next 30 years or so whilst leisurely surfing the web from his cell – if he has even a stump of humanity in him, it will dawn on him who he now and forever will be to those who similarly find the page, or learn about him at law school; he is not simply a cop who killed someone wrongfully, he’s the guy who nonchalantly choked a man to death.
The death penalty is barbaric and no one should be subject to it, irrespective of the crime. But that is as far as human mercy can extend in cases such as Chauvin. It’s up to Jesus now.