Police officer filmed arresting Utah nurse fired from paramedic job
The police officer seen in a viral video aggressively arresting a Utah nurse has been fired from his part-time paramedic job.
Footage taken at the University Hospital in Salt Lake City on July 26 shows Detective Jeff Payne threatening Alex Wubbels with jail if she did not agree to take blood from an unconscious patient without consent.
In the video, Detective Payne says he would bring transient patients to the hospital in retaliation to Ms Wubbels and take "good patients" elsewhere.
On Tuesday, Gold Cross Ambulance President Mike Moffitt said he first heard the comments on the video and Detective Payne was fired as a result, NBC reported.
He has also been placed on paid leave by Salt Lake City police while a criminal investigation takes place.
As seen in the video, taken by Det Payne’s body camera, Ms Wubbels, the head nurse of the University of Utah Hospital’s burn unit, remains calm as she explains the policy after Payne insists on collecting the blood sample of an unconscious patient.
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Ms Wubbels explains she is simply trying to her job, telling the detective: “three things that allow us to [give blood samples] are if you have an electronic warrant, patient consent or patient under arrest, and neither of those things… the patient can’t consent".
"He told me repeatedly that he doesn’t have a warrant and the patient is not under arrest.”
The footage of the arrest shows Det Payne interrupting Ms Wubbels as she continues to explain the policy to him before placing her in handcuffs, which causes a brief scuffle between the two.
The video, made public Friday, sparked a wave of criticism over Payne’s confrontation with a nurse who appears to be following hospital protocol.
Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and Police Chief Mike Brown apologised for the officer’s actions and promised investigations from Internal Affairs and the Civilian Review Board.
“I was alarmed by what I saw in the video with our officer," Chief Brown said in a joint statement.
“I am sad at the rift this has caused between law-enforcement and the nurses we work so closely with. I want to be clear, we take this very seriously.”
