- Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on George Floyd’s neck in May 2020 and was convicted of murder, was stabbed to death in prison on Friday
- Chauvin was attacked by another inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona, where he is serving his 22-year sentence
- His condition was unknown, but AP sources said the 47-year-old was seriously injured and required “life-saving measures.”
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was stabbed and seriously injured by another inmate in the Arizona prison where he is serving a 22-year sentence for the murder of George Floyd.
Chauvin, 47, was attacked on Friday, AP reported, at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson – a medium-security prison plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages.
The Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an incarcerated person was attacked at FCI Tucson around 12:30 p.m. local time on Friday.
In a statement, the agency said responding personnel contained the incident and took “life-saving measures” before the inmate, who was not named, was taken to a hospital for further treatment and evaluation.
Chauvin was sent to FCI Tucson from a maximum-security Minnesota state prison in August 2022 to concurrently serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a 22.5-year state sentence for second-degree murder.
Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, had argued for him to be kept away from the public and other inmates because he feared he would become a target.
In Minnesota, Chauvin was held in solitary confinement primarily for his own protection, Nelson wrote in court papers last year.
Derek Chauvin, 47, was stabbed and seriously injured in prison in Arizona on Friday. He needed “life-saving” attention from prison staff. Chauvin is pictured via Zoom on March 17
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for Floyd’s murder after he pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction.
Separately, Chauvin is making a long-term effort to overturn his federal guilty plea, claiming new evidence shows he did not cause Floyd’s death.
No employees were injured in Friday’s attack and the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said.
Visits have been suspended at the facility, which has about 380 inmates.
Chauvin’s knife attack is the second high-profile attack on a federal prisoner in the past five months.
In July, disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate at a federal prison in Florida.
It’s also the second major incident at the Tucson Federal Penitentiary in just over a year.
In November 2022, an inmate at the facility’s low-security detention center pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot a visitor in the head. The weapon, which the inmate should not have had, misfired and no one was injured.
Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, stood for nine and a half minutes on the street outside a supermarket where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 stamp Knees pressed on his neck had bill.
The death of George Floyd in May 2020 shocked the United States and sparked protests against police brutality around the world
Bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.”
His death sparked protests around the world, some of which turned violent, and forced a nationwide reckoning with police brutality and racism.
Three other former officers who were at the scene received lesser sentences at the state and federal levels for their roles in Floyd’s death.
Chauvin’s stabbing comes as the Federal Bureau of Prisons has faced increased scrutiny in recent years following the prison suicide of wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2019.
It’s another example of the agency’s inability to ensure the safety of even its most senior prisoners following the Nassar stabbing and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s suicide at a federal hospital in June.