Derek Chauvin was stabbed 22 times by federal inmate who says he attacked him on Black Friday as symbolic connection to BLM
A federal inmate was charged Friday with attempted murder in the prison stabbing of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd.
nypost.com
Derek Chauvin was stabbed 22 times by federal inmate who says he attacked him on Black Friday as symbolic connection to BLM
The man who stabbed ex-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin in prison purposefully attacked on Black Friday as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, according to investigators.
Former Mexican Mafia member John Turscak, 52, stabbed Chauvin 22 times inside a Tucson federal prison and said he would’ve killed him if corrections officers had not responded so quickly, prosecutors said.
He is now charged with attempted murder, assault with the intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in bodily injury.
Turscak — who is serving a 30-year sentence for crimes committed while working as an FBI informant – said he thought about stabbing the ex-cop convicted of killing black man George Floyd by kneeling on his neck during his arrest for months before the act.
Turscak attacked Chauvin with an “improvised knife” with the “intent to do bodily harm” and to “commit murder,” according to the criminal complaint viewed by The Post.
He told investigators he chose Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving when shops bring sale events — for his attack because it was “symbolic with the Black Lives Matter movement and the ‘Black Hand’ symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organization,” according to FBI agents who interviewed him on Nov. 26
The attack on the disgraced police officer took place around 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 24 inside the facility’s law library. Officers used pepper spray to subdue Turscak.
Chauvin, who is serving a 22-year sentence for Floyd’s death, was taken to a hospital for “emergency medical treatment,” after employees had to perform “life-saving measures” on him.
Turscak waived his Miranda Rights for his interview with the FBI, where he denied he had intended to kill Chauvin.
A lawyer for the criminal was not listed, although he has represented himself on previous occasions.
He has since been moved into an adjacent federal facility, where he remains.
Tursak was convicted in 1997 for crimes he committed while working as an FBI informant against the Mexican Mafia. His work resulted in getting an indictment against 40 alleged mafia members and associates, according to a 2001 report by the Los Angeles Times.
However, during his time as an informant, he dealt drugs, extorted money, and authorized assault. He was dropped as an informant and charged with racketeering and conspiring to kill a rival gang member, The Times reported.
At the time, Tursak claimed he told the FBI about his methods and was allegedly told: “Do what you have to do.”
“I didn’t commit those crimes for kicks. I did them because I had to if I wanted to stay alive,” he said at the time.
Chauvin, on the other hand, was shoved into the spotlight in May 2020 after he was pictured kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine-and-a-half minutes, causing his death.
He was sentenced to almost two decades in federal prison in July 2022 for depriving Floyd of his rights.
His condition following the stabbing is still unknown. Chauvin’s attorney, Greg Erickson, told The Post on Wednesday his client’s family has not been able to speak to the ex-cop and don’t know about his current condition.
“They say he’s stable, but he also could be stable but unconscious, we just don’t know,” Erickson said. “That’s all we were told.
Erickson could not immediately be reached on Friday afternoon.
Mexican breh stood tall. Stood on business. 
