From USA Today:
"Utah police arrest nurse who refused to draw blood from unconscious patient"
The Salt Lake City Police Department is opening an investigation after body camera footage shows an officer forcibly arrest a nurse for refusing to draw blood from an unconscious patient. Detective Jacob Payne dragged and physically removed nurse Alex Wubbels from University Hospital while she screamed. Payne then cuffed her hands behind her back and forced her into an unmarked police car, leaving Wubbels sobbing "this is crazy." The officer accused Wubbels of interfering with a criminal investigation. Wubbels, however, said she was just doing her job. Moments before the arrest, the nurse, and former Olympic athlete calmly explained to Payne that hospital policy says they can't draw blood from the patient, who had been injured in a car accident that left one person dead. She said the officers needed either an electronic warrant or patient consent to draw blood from someone who is not under arrest. The officers didn’t have either. Wubbels even called her supervisor who warned Payne, “Sir, you’re making a huge mistake because you're threatening a nurse.” Payne, who grew increasingly impatient in the video, snapped. “No, we’re done,” he said. “You’re under arrest, we’re going!” Wubbels was later released and no criminal charges were filed. The encounter was captured on a fellow officer’s body camera on July 26, but was released during Wubbels’ emotional news conference Thursday. “I just feel betrayed, I feel angry, I feel a lot of things,” Wubbels said during the news conference. “I am still confused. I’m a health care worker. The only job I have is to keep my patients safe.” Salt Lake Sgt. Brandon Shearer says the department has opened an internal investigation into the matter. Payne is still on active duty with the Salt Lake City police despite being suspended from the blood draw program, according to Shearer. A spokesperson for the Salt Lake City Police says the department is alarmed by what happened and is working with the hospital to make sure it never happens again, according to NBC News. The mayor of Salt Lake City says the nurse's arrest is completely unacceptable. Mayor Jackie Biskupski says it’s a troubling setback to efforts to train officers to de-escalate situations rather than use force. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert also weighed in Friday, saying in a tweet that the footage is disturbing and he trusts police will rectify the situation. Wubbels hopes the incident will spark better law enforcement training. Agencies “need to be having conversations about what is appropriate intervention,” Wubbels said. “So at the least, there needs to be some significant discussion about what their duties are to society.”
^ It's clear that the police officer was in the wrong in this case and should be punished for it. He neither had a warrant or the patient's consent and should have known the law. Maybe he did know the law and just decided to ignore it. Either way he clearly over-stepped the law and abused his authority. That is the main issue here. No one in the community can trust that he won't abuse that authority again. It's a great thing that the police body cameras were there and on. Every single police officer in the US (and around the world) should be required to wear body cameras that can only be switched-off by the station and not the officer. ^
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