By MICHAEL R. SISAK
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Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd, was stabbed by another inmate and seriously injured Friday at a federal prison in Arizona, an individual familiar with the matter informed The Associated Press.
The attack took place at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, a medium-security prison that has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the attack and spoke with the AP on the condition of anonymity.
The Bureau of Prisons confirmed that a incarcerated individual was attacked at FCI Tucson at around 12:30 p.m. local time Friday. In a statement, the agency said responding staff contained the incident and performed “life-saving measures” before the inmate, who it did not name, was taken to a hospital for further treatment and evaluation.
No staff members were injured and the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said. Visiting at the facility, which has about 380 inmates, has been suspended.
Messages seeking comment were left with Chauvin’s attorneys and the FBI.
Chauvin’s stabbing is the second high-profile attack on a federal prisoner in the last five months. In July, disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed by a fellow inmate at a federal penitentiary in Florida.
It is also the second major incident at the Tucson federal prison in a little over a year. In November 2022, an inmate at the facility’s low-security prison camp pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot a visitor in the head. The gun, which the inmate should not have had, misfired and no one was hurt.
Chauvin, 47, 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 1/2-year state sentence for second-degree murder.
Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, had advocated for keeping him out of general population and away from other inmates, anticipating he’d be a target. In Minnesota, Chauvin was largely kept in solitary confinement “largely for his own safety,” Nelson wrote in court documents last year.
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction. Separately, Chauvin is making a longshot bid to reverse his federal guilty plea, claiming new evidence shows he didn’t cause Floyd’s death.
Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes on the street outside a corner store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a fake $20 bill.
Spectator video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” His death touched off protests around the world, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.
Three other former officers who were at the scene received lesser state and federal sentences for their roles in Floyd’s death.
