Utah nurse sobs as cop arrests her for doing her job
By all accounts, including the video footage, the head nurse at University of Utah Hospital’s burn unit was calm and composed as she explained to a Salt Lake City police detective that she was not permitted to draw blood from an injured patient without their consent.
Detective Jeff Payne did not have a warrant and the patient was unconscious so could not give consent. This meant that the detective could not get the blood samples he wanted according to both hospital policy and the law.
The nurse was warned that she would be arrested if she did not comply and nurse Alex Wubbels stood her ground.
She called her supervisor on the phone and he tried to explain to the detective that “you’re making a huge mistake because you’re threatening a nurse.”
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That’s when Payne lost it. He grabbed Wubbels and dragged her out of the building and cuffed her hands behind her back as the nurse screamed for someone to help her.
It didn’t matter because Payne forced her into an unmarked car and accused her of interfering with an investigation.
On Friday, the Salt Lake City District Attorney Sim Gill stated he wanted to see a criminal investigation opened into the incident.
Salt Lake Mayor Jackie Biskupski and Police Chief Mike Brown have both apologized to Wubbels in a statement. “I extend a personal apology to Ms. Wubbels for what she has been through for simply doing her job,” the mayor said.
At a press conference, Wubbels played the bodycam footage from the incident and said, “I just feel betrayed, I feel angry, I feel a lot of things,” she said. “And I’m still confused.”
Payne and another officer have been placed on administrative leave.
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