ARIZONA: Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, was stabbed by another inmate and seriously injured on Friday at a federal prison in Arizona, sources said.
The attack took place at Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, a medium-security prison that has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages. The Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an incarcerated person was assaulted at FCI Tucson on Friday. In a statement, the agency said responding employees contained the incident and performed “life-saving measures” before the inmate, who it did not name, was taken to hospital for further treatment and evaluation. No employees were injured and the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said.
Messages seeking comment were left with Chauvin’s lawyers 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 weapon, which the inmate shouldn’t 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 simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a 22-and-a-half-year state sentence for second-degree murder.