The inmate who stabbed ex-Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin 22 times at the federal prison in Arizona has been charged with attempted murder, prosecutors informed on Friday (Dec 1).
Chauvin is the main convict in the George Flyod murder case where he knelt on the neck of Floyd and smothered him to death in Minneapolis in the midwestern state of Minnesota,. He has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for denying civil rights to his victim.
It was last month that Chauvin was stabbed with a shiv in the law library of the prison. The suspect has been identified as 52-year-old John Turscak and according to the criminal complaint, he stabbed Chauvin to invoke the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Turscak told the corrections officers that he would have killed (Chauvin) had they not responded so quickly,” the complaint says.
Apart from attempted murder, Turscak has also been charged with assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Notably, the attempted murder charge alone carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
According to reports, Turscak, who led a faction of the Mexican Mafia in Los Angeles in the late 1990s, had been planning the attack for a month.
No information has been provided on Chauvin’s health but initial reports claimed that he was in serious condition after the attack.
George Floyd’s murder
Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for nine-and-a-half minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.
Three other former officers who were at the scene received lesser state and federal sentences for their roles in Floyd’s death.
The video of Floyd’s killing showed former officer J. Alexander Kueng holding the black man’s back while Tou Thao kept bystanders back during the incident.
A Justice Department probe into the workings of the Minneapolis police revealed that officers in the department routinely restored to violent and racist practices, “including unjustified deadly force”.
The city of Minneapolis also settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Floyd family, agreeing to pay his relatives $27 million.
(With inputs from agencies)
