Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of the murder of George Floyd, has reportedly been stabbed in an Arizona prison.
A source claimed to the Associated Press that the 47-year-old ex-cop was left seriously injured after another inmate attacked him in the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona - a medium-security prison that has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages.
In a statement shared with media outlets, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed that the detainee - whose name was not given - was punctured at 12:30PM local time on Friday (November 24) at the facility.
"No employees were injured during the incident," the statement read, per PEOPLE. "Responding employees initiated life-saving measures for one incarcerated individual. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were requested while life-saving efforts continued."
"The incarcerated individual was transported by EMS to a local hospital for further treatment and evaluation," the statement concluded.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office prosecuted Chauvin in the George Floyd case, was informed that the inmate was assaulted and is in stable condition, his office told CNN.
"I am sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence," Ellison said in a release, per 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 was assaulted at the medium-security prison while serving two concurrent sentences in Floyd’s murder.
Per BBC, the reported incident comes days after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal, in which it was contended that he had not received a fair trial for the killing of George Floyd - a Black man who tragically passed away after Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020.
The heartbreaking incident occurred outside a convenience store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. A bystander's video captured the man's fading cries of "I can’t breathe" and his murder sparked a wave of demonstrations against racial injustice over the way police treat people of color, particularly Black Americans in the US.
An investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights revealed that Minneapolis and its police department engaged in "a pattern or practice of race discrimination," according to a 2022 report.
Chauvin was later found guilty of Floyd's murder and sentenced to 22 years in prison. He was given a further 20-year sentence in July 2022 for violating Floyd's civil rights.
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