Star Tribune
Derek Chauvin’s mother chastises prison officials for keeping family in dark about son’s stabbing
The mother of federal inmate Derek Chauvin and one of his attorneys are chastising prison officials for keeping them in the dark about last week’s stabbing by a fellow inmate that left the ex-Minneapolis police officer in serious condition.
The 47-year-old Chauvin has been imprisoned at the federal prison in Tucson, Ariz., for killing George Floyd while on duty in 2020. Chauvin was attacked on Friday at the medium-security facility.
Gregory Erickson, who is Chauvin’s civil attorney, said that Chauvin’s father has been contacted by a Bureau of Prisons official confirming the stabbing but has received “no concrete information on how this was allowed to happen, any detail regarding Mr. Chauvin’s injuries or details about his condition other than he is stable.”
Erickson added that Chauvin’s family members have also been denied information about his client’s location or condition, leaving them unable to visit him or consult with him on his medical needs.
The attorney also pointed out that he and the family have reached out repeatedly directly to the Tucson prison in vain for details on the attack. As of Tuesday morning, federal prosecutors in Arizona have yet to announce any charges against the inmate suspected of stabbing Chauvin.
Carolyn Pawlenty, Chauvin’s mother, expressed her outrage on social media Monday that she has not heard from prison officials in Arizona or from the Bureau of Prisons since her son was attacked.
“I have major concerns and questions!” Pawlenty wrote. “I want the respect of being notified!! I am heartbroken!! I am his mom!!!!!!!”
“I view this lack of communication with his attorneys and family members as completely outrageous,” Erickson said. “It appears to be indicative of a poorly run facility and indicates how Derek’s assault was allowed to happen.”
Erickson added, “I would like you all to imagine how you would feel if this was your son, brother, or father who was stabbed and forced to suffer alone, his location concealed from you. This is completely unacceptable. If this is standard procedure, the procedure must be changed.”
In a brief phone call Tuesday, Erickson said Chauvin’s parents “are just upset and disgusted with how everything has transpired in terms of transparency.”
A spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons, which like the FBI is under the Justice Department, has declined to answer questions or provide additional details about the attack other than confirming that an assault on an inmate occurred and that employees performed ”life-saving measures” before the inmate was taken to a hospital for further treatment and evaluation.
The agency spokesman also declined to respond to the allegations leveled by Chauvin’s attorney about inmate safety or the lack of information for Chauvin’s family.
Chauvin is the latest high-profile inmate to be attacked at a federal prison. In July, convicted sex offender and former Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed repeatedly at a facility in Florida.
In 2018, former Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger was killed shortly after being transferred to a federal prison in West Virginia. A Justice Department report late last year excoriated the prison’s management for Bulger’s death.
A series of Associated Press reports in 2022 found that the federal Bureau of Prisons has long been plagued by staffing shortages, chronic violence, inmate deaths and sexual abuse of prisoners by staff.
Chauvin has been serving a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a 22 ½-year state sentence for second-degree murder. He’s due to be released from prison in 2038, according to Bureau of Prison records.
Floyd, who was Black, died in May 2020 while pinned under the knee of Chauvin, who is white, at the corner of Chicago Avenue and 38th Street in south Minneapolis. Floyd’s death ignited days of protests and at times deadly riots.
The assault came one week after the premiere of Alpha News’ documentary, “The Fall of Minneapolis,” which questions the prevailing media narrative of Floyd’s murder. The film includes interviews with Chauvin and ex-officer J. Alexander Kueng, who was also convicted in Floyd’s death.
“At the end of the day, the whole trial including sentencing was a sham,” Chauvin told Alpha News during a phone interview from prison.
“He had a fair trial and the whole world saw it,” Ellison said in response to that.
This story contains material from the Associated Press. Star Tribune staff writers Liz Sawyer and Rochelle Olson contributed to this report.
Two people from Minnetonka were killed late Friday afternoon when their GMC Suburban ran a stop sign and was struck by a GMC Yukon headed north on Hwy. 169 west of Palisade, Minn.
According to the State Patrol, Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, and Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, were dead at the scene. The driver of the Suburban, a 61-year-old Minnetonka man, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Suburban, pulling a trailer, was headed east on Grove Street/County Rd. 3 at about 5:15 p.m. when it failed to stop at Hwy. 169 and was struck by the northbound Yukon. The Yukon then struck two westbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.
Four people from Zimmerman, Minn., in the Yukon, including the driver, were taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, while two passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Three girls in the Yukon ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The drivers of the two vehicles struck by the Yukon were not injured, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were dry at the time of the accident, and alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. All involved in the accident were wearing a seat belt except for Elizabeth Baldwin.
Hill City police and the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
