I never would have imagined a cop and a nurse would be on opposing sides. Cops, nurses, teachers, and firemen used to be symbols of our society working together.
How times have changed.
The patient for whom the nurse was arrested is a truck driver involved in a terrible accident involving another driver who was being chased by police. The truck driver was unconscious and being treated in the hospital when an investigating officer made a request- draw the person’s blood to check for illegal substances. The nurse, Alex Wubbels, explained why she could not fulfill the request, as the three criteria for drawing blood are a) patient consent (which, being unconscious, the patient could not give), b) a search warrant or c) the patient is under arrest. The police officer had neither a warrant nor was the patient under arrest.
If the officer wanted blood from the patient, he should have gotten a warrant. Instead, all hell breaks loose after Wubbels’ supervisor tells the officer, “You’re making a huge mistake because you’re threatening a nurse.” The officer responds to Wubbels, “We’re done. You’re under arrest.”
See the video here.
I wish the supervisor was there instead of speakerphone. Then it would be that person going through all this, but arresting someone by phone is more problematic. The nurse looks scared. She pleads for help. I heard one person in the media blaming the nurse for over-reaction. I wonder how she would respond if, for no legitimate reason, an officer tells her she’s under arrest. I can imagine the fear and anger I would feel if that had happened to me. The power of the law can be a scary thing.
What happened here is the cop’s ego trumped reason. Wubbels stood up for the constitutional rights of another person and had her personal liberty violated. She was released after 20 minutes in a patrol car. Thank goodness she didn’t have to go to a detention center, get a mug shot, be processed, and sit with some of the worst elements in our society. Somewhere, someone intervened. Maybe reason returned.
Wubbels said she wants standards set for the police department regarding this issue or she might sue. The police officer was initially “suspended from the department’s blood-drawing program.” Whoa. A few hours later, finally, he was put on adminstrative leave.
This guy should really take some time to cool off and think about his actions.
This guy physically violated a defenseless person’s civil liberties. Another cop made a really inappropriate remark about only shooting black people and he was terminated. This guy physically restrained someone. Does the Salt Lake City police department really want someone like that on their team? Is this someone who works well with society? It doesn’t appear to be given his short fuse.
Was this his first time making such a demand? Were there other medical personnel in other instances that caved in? Is that why he was so upset? His tactics didn’t work with this particular nurse, a former Olympian?
The nurse is a blond-haired white professional woman. I wonder what the reaction would have been if she were black. I wonder- can she get some support from the Black Lives Matter group that has experienced similar violations of human rights? Wouldn’t that help bring the country together, or is the black-wide divide too great to understand mutual pain?
