Killer Cop Serving Time For George Floyd Murder In ICU After Ambush
Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis policeman convicted of murdering George Floyd, was seriously injured Friday in a stabbing carried out by a fellow inmate at an Arizona federal prison.
Authorities confirmed Chauvin was assaulted around 12:30pm at Federal Correctional Institution Tucson. Few details of the attack were released, but Chauvin was reportedly stabbed multiple times in the torso area. He remains hospitalized in stable condition following life-saving medical intervention.
Prison officials suspended visitations upon the lockdown Friday. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison lamented the violence, saying “like any incarcerated individual, [Chauvin] should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence.”
The ambush delivers Chauvin his latest legal setback after federal courts rejected appeals to overturn his convictions this month. He is currently serving a 22-year murder sentence simultaneously with a 21-year federal term for violating Floyd’s civil liberties.
Floyd died in May 2020 after Chauvin pinned him to pavement for over nine minutes, ignoring pleas that he could not breath. The killing, captured on video, ignited a nationwide reckoning with racial inequities in policing and the criminal justice system.
Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck as three other officers helped restrain the unarmed Black man suspected of a minor non-violent offense. The co-defendants all received multi-year federal sentences for showing deliberate indifference to Floyd’s medical distress.
Prison authorities have released little about what prompted Chauvin’s assailant to target the high-profile defendant. But legal experts say cops imprisoned alongside the general population often face harassment, extortion or physical attacks.
Chauvin previously spent time in solitary confinement for his own safety. His defense lawyer did not immediately comment on Friday’s stabbing. But the incident may reignite debate over protecting notorious defendants while prioritizing rehabilitation and prisoner wellbeing.
For now, officials emphasize Chauvin remains under medical supervision and the Arizona correctional facility housing him remains on lockdown. The ex-policeman continues recovering from stab wounds nearly eighteen months into a decades-long incarceration for Floyd’s brutal suffocation.
Image courtesy of Chad Davis under CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic
As Editor-in-Chief of Southwick News, Dhruv Patel combines his background in computer science from UC Berkeley with his Stanford journalism training to pioneer innovative approaches to digital news delivery.
