An inmate at a federal prison in Arizona Friday stabbed and seriously injured Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in 2021 of murdering George Floyd in 2020.
As first reported by the Associated Press, who spoke with a person familiar with the matter, the stabbing occurred at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, described as “a medium-security prison that has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages.” The AP’s source was not allowed to publicly comment and the Bureau of Prisons confirmed the incident but would not name the inmate. They did mention performing “life-saving measures” on the incarcerated person, who was “taken to a hospital for further treatment and evaluation.”
In 2020, Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck for about nine and a half minutes while he was handcuffed, face down on the ground and crying out that he couldn’t breathe. Footage of the brutal murder sparked a summer of protests against police brutality and racism. Conspiracy theories about Chauvin and Floyd have surfaced, including a QAnon conspiracy that Derek Chauvin was replaced by an imposter at sentencing and that Floyd actually overdosed on fentanyl, and didn’t suffocate under the knee of a police officer. There is no evidence to support either theory.
Chauvin was transferred to the Arizona prison in August 2022, according to the AP, to "simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree murder."
