The identity of the attacker of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been revealed, proving that the convicted officer cannot really be safe anywhere in prison.
Former officer Derek Chauvin was stabbed 22 times in a federal prison last week in an attack perpetrated by another inmate.
Prison officials at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson did not at first admit it was Chauvin who was attacked, but noted that “life-saving measures” were performed and an injured inmate was transported to a hospital.
Chauvin was convicted in the police-involved death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd and is serving a 21-year federal sentence for supposedly violating Floyd’s civil rights as well as a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree murder.
The former officer has largely been kept in solitary confinement “for his own protection.” After all, not only was he accused of being a “racist,” he is also a former police officer. That is a bad mix for someone in prison.
Chauvin’s attacker has been identified as inmate John Turscak, who has now been charged with murder, according to the Associated Press.
The accused attacker reportedly stabbed Chauvin at around 12:30 p.m. on the day after Thanksgiving, and was stopped by prison guards who subdued him with pepper spray.
Turscak is serving a 30-year sentence for crimes committed while he was a member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang.
Prosecutors say that Turscak told them he attacked Chauvin as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, and the “Black Hand,” which is a symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia.
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Turscak, 52, has been charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. He could get up to 20 years in prison.
It is not known if the suspect has a lawyer to represent him in this case.
Oddly enough, Turscak was also an FBI informant in 1997 and reportedly provided investigators information about gang activity in Los Angeles. His information led to more than 40 indictments.
However, he was dropped as an informant because officers discovered that he was still engaging in gang activities even while acting as an informer. And he eventually pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiring to kill a gang rival in 2001.
Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, has consistently advocated for keeping Chauvin out of the general population and away from other inmates for fear that his safety is in danger.
The former Minneapolis police officer has repeatedly filed appeals on his conviction. His latest was filed without a lawyer representing him.
Chauvin says the jury that convicted him was not given access to certain types of autopsy evidence that shows that George Floyd had underlying medical conditions that likely led to his death, and not his act of placing his knee on Floyd’s neck to subdue him.
Some agree with the theory that Floyd died from medical problems, not the actions of police.
In August, for instance, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed that “the whole George Floyd story was a lie.”
Carlson noted that testimony by former Hennepin County prosecutor Amy Sweasy claimed Floyd’s autopsy showed no medical evidence of asphyxia or strangulation.
Carlson also insisted that Floyd was “not murdered,” but “died instead of what we used to call natural causes — which in his case would include decades of drug use, as well as the fatal concentration of fentanyl that was in his system on his final day.”
It seems undeniable that Derek Chauvin is unsafe in prison. He is a major target by multiple gangs. It also seems that the prison may not be taking his security more seriously.
