An inmate has been charged with attempted murder for stabbing Derek Chauvin, the police officer convicted of killing African-American George Floyd, 22 times, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Serving a 22 and a half year sentence, Chauvin, 47, was attacked on November 24 in the library of a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, surviving his injuries.
John Turscak, 52, is accused of stabbing Chauvin with a homemade knife. “Mr. Turscak told prison officials that he had killed [Chauvin] if they hadn’t reacted so quickly”, reads a court document.
The federal prosecutors’ office in Tucson said it charged Turscak with several crimes, including attempted murder, punishable by 20 years in prison, and assault. The man is also accused of stabbing another inmate more than 20 times.
Although no press release or complaint indicates Chauvin’s full name, an official source confirmed to France-Presse (AFP) that the victim was indeed the former Minneapolis police officer.
No information was released about Chauvin’s current health status.
The 47-year-old former agent was transferred in August 2022 from a maximum security state prison in Minnesota, in the western United States, to Tucson, to serve a sentence of 22 and a half years in prison for the murder of George Floyd.
Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, had asked that the former police officer not have contact with the remaining prisoners, warning that he could be the target of retaliation.
In prison in Minnesota, Chauvin was held primarily in solitary confinement “largely for his own protection,” Nelson wrote in court documents last year.
The United States Supreme Court recently rejected an appeal filed by Chavin against his murder conviction. The former agent is also trying to annul the confession, alleging the existence of new evidence.
George Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin used his knee to immobilize him, pressing the African-American man’s neck against the ground for around nine and a half minutes. A bystander’s video captured Floyd’s screams as he claimed he couldn’t breathe.
After the images were released on social media, protests against police violence and racism took place in dozens of North American cities, some of which were the scene of acts of looting.
The four police officers involved in the incident were fired and sentenced to prison terms.
2023-12-02 08:05:21
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