After body cam video footage was released showing an incident at the University of Utah hospital in July, a police officer is facing a Criminal Investigation. Detective Jeff Payne arrested a nurse for refusing the officer’s request to take blood from an unconscious patient involved in a vehicle crash, following the policy of the hospital where she works.

Utah nurse arrested for refusing to break hospital policy

As reported by the Salt Lake Tribune, the incident happened on July 26, where Alex Wubbels, the nurse in question, refused Payne’s request to draw blood from the unconscious truck driver, as it was against hospital policy.

Basically, the patient was unable to give consent for his blood to be drawn and due to his injuries, the nurse also believed it detrimental to his safety.

However, despite her clear explanation of the hospital’s policy – along with a call to her supervisor, who confirmed this with the officer – Payne grabbed Wubbels, handcuffed her and placed her in his patrol car. She was released around 20 minutes later.

The video footage showed Wubbels’ confrontation with Payne, including the screams of the nurse as the officer took her into custody. The nurse could be heard accusing Payne of assaulting her and saying she had done nothing wrong by following the hospital’s policy.

The police body cam footage is included here.

Incident condemned by Salt Lake City police

After Wubbels and her attorney publicly released the footage on Thursday, Salt Lake City police have condemned the incident, saying the officer had since been suspended. Jackie Biskupski, the mayor of Salt Lake City, later said in a statement that Salt Lake County police had placed Payne and a second, unnamed officer, on administrative leave and had agreed to investigate the city’s blood draw program.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Chief Mike Brown and Biskupski had earlier on Friday called Wubbels to apologize for the officer’s behavior. In a media conference, both parties also expressed their alarm over the body camera footage, saying changes have already been made to the blood draw policies of the police department and that officers will be correctly trained.

According to Biskupski, this was the first she had seen of the video footage and that the officer's behavior was totally unacceptable. Brown said it was the first time he had fully viewed the body cam footage.

Jeff Hall, the chief deputy district attorney, told the New York Daily News that Payne and other officers involved in the hospital incident were to be investigated. Hall added that it was a criminal probe into the conduct of the officers and the legality of Wubbels’ arrest.
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