The University of Utah nurse who was grabbed, manhandled and put in cuffs because she refused to break hospital rules has spoken out about her mistreatment.
Alex Wubbels was arrested at her workplace on July 26 after refusing to draw blood from an unconscious man at the demand of a police officer who had no probable cause or warrant – leading to her being arrested.
‘I think this resonates with people all over, and that’s a really unfortunate problem that we… have to fix,’ she told the Today show.
Nurse Alex Wubbels, who was dragged screaming out of University of Utah hospital in July after refusing to draw blood from an unconscious patient, says people responded to her plight
Det. Jeff Payne (seen arresting Wubbels) is still on active duty but has been suspended from the blood draw program. Wubbels says police need to regain the public’s trust
Bodycam footage of Det. Jeff Payne shows her refusing to draw blood from a driver whose truck was hit by a car that had been fleeing police.
Since the driver was not under arrest or subject to an arrest warrant, and since he could not give consent while unconscious, hospital policy forbade her from taking the blood sample.
Payne then dragged the terrified Wubbels out the hospital in front of staff and patients. She was let go without charge after 20 minutes, but the incident left her shaken.
That, she said, is why she only released the footage this week.
‘It took me a while to understand that I was in a traumatic experience and I needed a moment to give my emotions a chance to rest,’ she said.
Nevertheless, she said, the need for ‘accountability’ by the authorities spurred her on to release the video.
That in turn led to thousands expressing their shock and confusion over the cop’s seemingly outlandish behavior – behavior that has left Wubbels scratching her head.
‘I don’t know what his problems was,’ she said, adding that she ‘would have liked a chance for him to talk to one of his superiors’ before grabbing her.
While Salt Lake Police Department – which has left Payne on active duty but taken him off the blood draw unity – has been ‘progressive’ and helpful, Wubbels said, others were not.
Wubbels says she could sue over the ‘traumatic’ experience, but that she mostly wanted the video released in order to make sure authorities did something about it
University of Utah cops and hospital security witnessed her arrest and did nothing to help – and she said their bosses were not willing to discuss why that was a problem.
‘So [the video] was a little bit of a trigger to say, “All right this is what you need to see if you’re not willing to see it then I’ll show it to you,”‘ she said.
But one silver lining is that masses of people who saw the video were outraged by the apparent misuse of power, and contacted Wubbels to support her.
‘At first, it was maybe – overwhelming is an understatement, but just the gratitude I have for the support by my colleagues, nurses around the country, around the world and just healthcare providers in general is just amazing,’ she said.
Wubbels says that a lawsuit is ‘not off the table,’ but right now she’s more concerned about how incidents like these have left people mistrusting authorities.
However, she says that she doesn’t see it as her job to correct the cops’ behavior.
‘I’m not here to police the police,’ she said. ‘The police need to do that if they’re going to regain any trust with the public.’