Derek Chauvin, the police officer who was convicted of killing George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and was stabbed in an Arizona prison, has been returned to prison custody, according to his attorney.
According to NBC News, Chauvin’s attorney, Gregory Erickson, released a statement saying that his client has been removed from a local hospital and returned to prison custody “for his follow-up care.” The former Minneapolis police officer, who is currently serving a 22-year sentence, was stabbed multiple times on Friday, Nov. 24, at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Ariz. Fifty-two-year-old John Turscak allegedly committed the assault, according to a criminal complaint.
Erickson said that he was in touch with Chauvin’s family, and “they confirmed that this medical condition has improved to the extent that he has been removed from the trauma care facility at a local Tucson hospital and returned to prison custody for his follow-up care.”
“His family is very concerned about the facility’s capacity to protect Derek from further harm. They remain unassured that any changes have been made to the faulty procedures that allowed Derek’s attack to occur in the first place.”
The suspect in Chauvin’s stabbing has been charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury in connection with the stabbing. He told correction officers that if they had not come to the scene so quickly, he would
have killed the former police officer. He told federal prosecutors that he wanted to kill Derek Chauvin on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving when retail stores open early to signify the start of the holiday shopping season) to symbolize the Black Lives Matter movement and the “black hand” symbol of the Mexican mafia.Chauvin is in prison for his role in the murder of Floyd after being caught on mobile phone video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for 9½ minutes.
The video clip went viral as viewers witnessed Floyd telling Chauvin that he couldn’t breathe before showing no signs of life as the former police officer kept his knee on Floyd’s neck. He is serving a state and federal sentence for his crime concurrently, 21 years for the federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and 22.5 years for a second-degree murder charge.