Sylvie Claire / November 28, 2023
Derek Chauvin, the police officer who killed African-American George Floyd, whose death sparked a major anti-racism movement in the U.S., was stabbed and wounded in a southwestern federal prison, the New York Times reported Friday night.
Derek Chauvin "was stabbed Friday in a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona," according to "two people familiar with the case," writes the American daily.
"Mr. Chauvin survived the attack," adds the New York Times, relying on one such person.
U.S. federal prison authorities issued a statement to AFP confirming an "assault", but without specifying the name of the victim.
Prison employees "took action to save the life of an incarcerated person" and emergency medical services "were called in", they said in the statement.
The detainee was transported "to a local hospital for treatment and examination", they added.
On May 25, 2020, the white policeman, a veteran officer with the Minneapolis (north) police force, had remained kneeling on the neck of the black quadragenarian for almost ten minutes, indifferent to the interventions of shocked passers-by and George Floyd's moans.
Two other police officers helped hold him down. The scene, filmed and posted online, sparked huge protests against racism and police violence across the U.S. and beyond.
Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder by the Minnesota state judiciary after a closely watched trial in 2021, and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Derek Chauvin's appeal against this conviction.