Officer who killed George Floyd stabbed by fellow inmate

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is recovering from an attack at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Ariz. The Minnesota attorney general’s office said he is expected to survive. Chauvin is serving simultaneous sentences of 20-plus years on federal and state charges in the killing of George Floyd, an African-American man whose death in police custody ignited anti-police protests in 2020.

How did the stabbing happen? Federal prison officials have released few details of the attack, leading Chauvin’s family to complain about a lack of transparency and communication. Chauvin, 47, was sent to the facility in Tucson from a maximum-security state prison in Minnesota after he pleaded guilty to federal charges of depriving Floyd of his civil rights. In Minnesota, Chauvin was mainly kept in solitary confinement for his protection, according to his lawyer.

Dig deeper:  From the WORLD archives, read about the Justice Department’s process for investigating police departments accused of civil rights violations.