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Derek Chauvin, the former police officer convicted for the murder of George Floyd, was stabbed over 20 times in an Arizona prison by a fellow inmate, according to US prosecutors.
The attack occurred in the prison’s law library last month.
John Turscak, 52, the inmate accused of the attack, has been charged with attempted murder.
Turscak indicated that he chose Black Friday for the attack to symbolize the Black Lives Matter movement.
He allegedly confessed that he intended to kill Chauvin. The US District Attorney’s Office in Tucson announced multiple charges against Turscak, including assault with intent to commit murder and assault with a dangerous weapon.
“Turscak stabbed another inmate, D.C., who had previously been convicted of federal crimes in another district, approximately 22 times with an improvised knife,” a statement said.
While neither the statement nor the complaint give Chauvin’s full name, an official source confirmed to AFP that it was the former Minneapolis police officer.
There was no further information on Chauvin’s condition.
Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in 2021, and sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison.
The incident was caught on video — providing a drastically different version of events than the initial police news release, which simply stated “Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.”
A Justice Department probe into the Minneapolis police, the findings of which were published in June 2023, said that officers in the department routinely resorted to violent and racist practices, “including unjustified deadly force.”
The city of Minneapolis, in the midwestern state of Minnesota, also settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Floyd family, agreeing to pay his relatives $27 million.
Chauvin unsuccessfully appealed his second-degree murder conviction.
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