The former Minneapolis police officer who murdered George Floyd has been attacked in prison, the Associated Press reports.
Derek Chauvin, 47, was stabbed Friday at a federal correctional facility in Arizona.
The Bureau of Prisons issued a press release stating that an inmate was assaulted at approximately 12:30 p.m. Friday at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson. Employees performed “life-saving measures” and the inmate was hospitalized, according to the AP, quoting the press release.
Although the agency did not officially identify the inmate, multiple news organizations reported that the person attacked was Chauvin citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
Prison staff were not injured in the incident and Chauvin survived, The New York Times reports.
On Saturday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a statement in response to the incident.
“I am sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence,” Ellison said in the statement, according to CNN. “He was duly convicted of his crimes and, like any incarcerated individual, he should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence.”
Chauvin is serving a 22.5-year sentence for second-degree murder in connection with Floyd’s death, in addition to a 21-year sentence for federal civil rights violations.
Lawyers for Chauvin wanted him to serve his sentence in federal prison because they are generally deemed safer than state and local jails. Last November, an inmate at the same Arizona federal facility pulled a gun and tried to shoot a visitor, according to the AP. The weapon misfired and no one was injured.
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week denied Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction. He is presently seeking to reverse his guilty plea in the federal civil rights case, according to CBS News.
Chauvin killed Floyd on May 25, 2020, by pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck outside a Minneapolis convenience store. Officers were investigating allegations that Floyd had attempted to pay with a counterfeit $20 bill.
Three other police officers at the scene were convicted of lesser crimes.
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[Feature Photo: FILE – In this image from video, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin listens as the verdict is read in his trial for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. On Friday, April 30, The Associated Press reported on social media posts sharing a fabricated screenshot last weekend that purported to show the Chicago Police Department tweeting in support of Chauvin, who was convicted for the murder of Floyd. The department sent no such tweet. (Court TV via AP, Pool, File)]
