The ex-Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer who was convicted for killing George Floyd was attacked while locked up in federal prison this past week.
Derek Chauvin was stabbed by another inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution(FCI) in Tucson, Arizona, on Friday, The Associated Press reported citing an anonymous source. The attack left the former cop seriously wounded.
Although the Bureau of Prisons did not identify Chauvin, in a statement to the AP, the agency said an inmate was attacked after 12 p.m. and staff “performed life-saving measures.” The individual was then transported to a hospital, and no employees were injured.
According to the report, Chauvin was transferred to the facility last August. He is slated to serve 21 years for violating Floyd’s civil rights during the May 2020 incident that sparked anti-police brutality demonstrations around the world. He was captured on camera pinning his knee in Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes while the Black man struggled to breathe.
“I really don’t know why you did what you did,” the judge said during his sentencing hearing last year, CBS News reported. “To put your knee on a person’s neck until they expired is simply wrong. … Your conduct is wrong and it is offensive.”
Chauvin’s federal prison term is being served concurrently with his 22 1/2-year sentence for murdering Floyd. Last week, the Supreme Court denied his appeal request to overturn his state conviction.
According to CNN, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison denounced the attack against the former cop and confirmed that he was in stable condition.
“I am sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence,” Ellison told the outlet in a statement. “He was duly convicted of his crimes and, like any incarcerated individual, he should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence.”
Per the outlet, Chauvin’s attorney Greg Erickson said that his client’s case makes him a target: “There’s a huge portion of the inmate population that wants to make a name for themselves by killing him.”
