Cop Arrested Nurse For Not Drawing Blood What Happened To The Cop That Arrested The Nurse?
by Sona
Updated Mar 14, 2023
Cop arrested Nurse for not drawing blood
The city and university that owns the hospital where a nurse was roughly arrested in Salt Lake City have agreed to a settlement of $500,000 with the nurse. The incident occurred in July, and was captured on police body camera footage. The footage showed an officer forcibly arresting Alex Wubbels after she refused to allow him to draw blood from an unconscious patient. Initially, she calmly cited the hospital's policy that blood cannot be drawn without a warrant or patient consent unless the patient is under arrest.
The officer then abruptly lunged at Wubbels, forcibly removed her from the hospital, and handcuffed her as she protested that she had not done anything wrong. The release of the footage by Wubbels and her attorney resulted in widespread outrage and contributed to a larger discussion about police use of force.
Who is Alex Wubbels?
Alexandra Luise Wubbels, also known as Alex Wubbels, is an American nurse and former Olympic athlete. In her athletic career, she was a national champion in the Slalom and Giant Slalom events in 1999, and competed as Alex Shaffer in the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. In July of 2017, Wubbels was involved in an incident where she refused to allow police to unlawfully obtain blood from an unconscious patient under her care. Wubbels obtained her nursing degree from the University of Utah and graduated from the Rowmark Ski Academy, a non-profit K-12 school in Salt Lake City, in 1994.
Nurse arrested for refusing to draw blood
In an incident that sparked a wider conversation about police use of force, a nurse in Utah named Alex Wubbels was handcuffed and forcibly removed from a hospital by a police officer after she refused to allow a blood draw on an unconscious patient. Wubbels, who felt frightened during the arrest, stated that she was simply following her training and protocols as a nurse to safeguard the patient's rights, who could not speak for themselves. She emphasized that the incident shows that bullying can occur in any setting, not just schools. Following the widespread attention drawn to the incident, the police chief and mayor of Salt Lake City issued apologies and implemented changes to department policies in accordance with the guidelines Wubbels was following.
What happened to the Cop that arrested the nurse?
After being fired by the Salt Lake City police department for his conduct in handcuffing a University of Utah Hospital nurse who refused to draw blood from an unconscious patient, police detective Jeff Payne is now suing both the department and the city. Payne claims that he was following his supervisor's orders at the time of the incident. Although he has been suspended from the blood-draw unit, Payne remains on duty as a detective while the department and a civilian review board conduct reviews of his conduct. Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown has stated that the department is taking the matter seriously and that he was alarmed by what he saw in the video of the incident involving Payne. In the lawsuit filed on Thursday in the 3rd District Court, Payne is seeking damages of over $300,000. The lawsuit describes him as a rooster in a "cockfight" orchestrated by those in charge of both the police department and the burn unit at the hospital. Despite his firing, Payne has been hired as a part-time civilian employee at the Weber County jail.
What happened to the nurse in Salt Lake City?
Alex Wubbels, a nurse who was roughly arrested at a Salt Lake City hospital, settled with the city and the university that owns the hospital for $500,000. The incident occurred on July 26, 2017, when Wubbels refused to allow officer Jeff Payne to draw blood from an unconscious patient who had been involved in a car crash earlier that day. Payne did not have a warrant to draw the blood and the patient was not under arrest. Despite this, Payne insisted that he had implied consent to get the blood and eventually arrested Wubbels, who was handcuffed and placed in a police car outside the hospital. After video of the incident went viral, Payne was fired by Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown. The department's policies for blood draws were changed as a result of the incident and subsequent criticism. Payne filed a lawsuit claiming that he followed guidance in the department's policy manual in making the arrest and that he should not have been fired. The lawsuit cites the policy changes as evidence that the department knew its policy was flawed. No charges were filed against Wubbels.
Utah Hospital incident
On July 26, 2017, former Salt Lake City Police Department detective Jeff Payne arrested nurse Alex Wubbels at the University of Utah Hospital for refusing to draw blood from an unconscious patient, which would have been illegal. The incident was captured on video and went viral when it was released on August 31, 2017. Following the outrage sparked by the incident, the SLCPD announced policy changes to guide officers on how to handle situations involving drawing blood, and the hospital also announced it would change its protocol to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. In response to the incident, Utah lawmakers drafted a bill to amend the blood draw policy of law enforcement in the state, which was signed into law by Utah Governor Gary Herbert on March 15, 2018. As a result of the incident, Payne was fired by the Salt Lake City Police Department. Wubbels was not charged with any offense, and later that same year, she settled with Salt Lake City and the University of Utah for $500,000 over the incident.
Cop arrested Nurse for not drawing blood: FAQs
Alexandra Luise Wubbels, also known as Alex Wubbels, is an American nurse and former Olympic athlete.
Payne insisted he had implied consent to get the blood and eventually arrested Wubbels. He handcuffed her and placed her in a police car outside the hospital, then released her after about 20 minutes.
After being fired by the Salt Lake City police department for his conduct in handcuffing a University of Utah Hospital nurse who refused to draw blood from an unconscious patient, police detective Jeff Payne is now suing both the department and the city.
After video of Wubbels' arrest went viral, the Salt Lake City Police Department fired Payne. Charges were never filed against Wubbels, but Wubbels later that year settled with Salt Lake City and the University of Utah over the incident for $500,000.