A University of Utah Hospital nurse was roughly grabbed, threatened, and handcuffed by a police detective for refusing to allow him to take blood from a patient without a warrant. The patient was unconscious and unable to give consent, The Washington Post reports. Alarming body camera footage from Detective Jeff Payne of the Salt Lake City police apparently shows nurse Alex Wubbels calmly explaining the law to Payne and getting her supervisor on the phone to back her up.
"Sir, you're making a huge mistake because you're threatening a nurse," Wubbels' supervisor told Payne on speakerphone.
Then "Payne snapped," the Post writes. "He seized hold of the nurse, shoved her out of the building, and cuffed her hands behind her back. A bewildered Wubbels screamed 'help me' and 'you're assaulting me' as the detective forced her into an unmarked car and accused her of interfering with an investigation."
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Wubbels' patient was a truck driver who was hit head-on by a fleeing suspect and severely burned in the crash. The blood sample was reportedly requested in order to check for illicit substances and protect the driver, who is not accused of committing a crime. Payne, a police phlebotomist, was instructed to arrest the nurse if she didn't let him draw the sample.
Wubbels was not charged, and she stands by protecting her patient's legal rights. "A blood draw, it just gets thrown around like it's some simple thing," she said. "But your blood is your blood. That's your property." Read the full report at The Washington Post.
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