Salt Lake City, Utah—Salt Lake County is investigating possible criminal charges against a police officer 
who roughly arrested a nurse on the job at University of Utah Hospital, District Attorney Sim Gill announced Sept. 1. The announcement came after a body-camera video of the July 26 arrest went viral: Detective Jeff Payne grabbed Alex Wubbels from behind a nurses’ station and handcuffed her after she refused to draw blood from an unconscious patient, a truck driver injured in a collision. Payne wanted his blood drawn so it could be tested for alcohol, but Wubbels told him she couldn’t legally do it because he didn’t have a warrant and the patient was neither under arrest nor able to give consent to a search. She was released without being charged, and Payne has been placed on administrative leave. The arrest “sends a chilling message about the safety of nurses and the rights of patients,” National Nurses United Co-President Jean Ross said in a statement Sept. 1. “At a time of a growing problem of workplace violence against RNs and other hospital employees, it is especially appalling to see police assaulting an RN for properly, and legally, doing her job.” Read more
