Inmate Who Stabbed Derek Chauvin 22 Times Charged With Attempted Murder, Say Prosecutors

The federal inmate who allegedly stabbed Derek Chauvin — the former police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd — has been charged with attempted murder, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office District of Arizona said on Friday.

Prosecutors said that the inmate, 52-year-old John Turscak, stabbed Chauvin “approximately 22 times with an improvised knife.” Along with attempted murder, Turscak was charged with assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. The attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder charges both carry a maximum of 20 years’ incarceration, prosecutors said, while the latter two charges both carry 10-years.

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The charges come nearly a week after Chauvin was stabbed in prison in Tucson, Arizona, where he’s serving his 21-year sentence over his role in Floyd’s death. According to a criminal complaint, Turscak told FBI agents that had planned to assault Chauvin for about a month. The inmate told the agents he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday because it “was symbolic with the Black Lives Matter movement and the ‘black hand’ symbol associated with the Mexican mafia criminal organization.”

Chauvin was found guilty of murdering Floyd in 2021. Chauvin had knelt with his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes, depriving him of oxygen and causing a brain injury and cardiac arrest that stopped his heart. Floyd’s death sparked a nationwide reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality as protests swept across the country in 2020.

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