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After Utah nurse’s violent arrest, local prosecutors ask FBI
Posted on: September 8, 2017 at 09:25:38 CT
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After Utah nurse’s violent arrest, local prosecutors ask FBI to help investigate police
Prosecutors in Utah’s Salt Lake County have asked the FBI to join a criminal probe into the violent arrest of a local nurse who was manhandled by a detective and shoved screaming into a squad car as she tried to protect the legal rights of a patient.
In a letter made public Thursday, District Attorney Sim Gill called on FBI agents to investigate whether the arresting officer or anyone else in the chain of command violated nurse Alex Wubbels’s civil rights or broke other laws during the July 26 incident.
Police body camera footage released last week showed Detective Jeff Payne of the Salt Lake City Police Department erupting at Wubbels at the University of Utah Hospital after she refused to let him draw blood from an unconscious patient, in accordance with hospital policy and federal law. Payne could be seen grabbing Wubbels by the arms and pushing her out of the building as she screamed “help me” and “your’re assaulting me.”
The altercation drew national attention and prompted the hospital to bar police from direct contact with nurses. The Salt Lake City mayor and other officials condemned the arrest, saying Wubbels had done nothing wrong. Multiple investigations are already underway, and Payne and another officer have been placed on administrative leave.
Gill’s office is conducting its own criminal probe but needs the FBI’s help to look into criminal civil rights violations, which fall under federal law.
“In order to be thorough, and given the gravity of the rights potentially implicated, all issues must be completely examined to restore the public trust currently compromised by the actions depicted in the publicly released video recordings of the incident,” Gill wrote. “Our community and its citizens deserve nothing less.”
An FBI spokeswoman told the Associated Press on Thursday that the agency had joined the county investigation. Salt Lake City police did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Gill’s letter specifically mentions Payne and asks the FBI to look into “other police officers and law enforcement personnel and anyone else acting under the color of authority, or failing to act when imposed with a duty to act.” That means the investigation could cover officers from the University of Utah and hospital guards, some of whom could be seen in the video standing by while Payne arrested the nurse.
Wubbels said in interviews this week that she had asked university security to intervene but they did nothing. University of Utah Police Chief Dale Brophy apologized in a news conference Monday, saying the video showed “how poorly the situation was handled.”
Wubbels was working as the charge nurse at the University of Utah Hospital’s burn unit when Payne arrived and demanded a blood sample from a truck driver who had been struck by a suspect fleeing police in another vehicle. The truck driver was not suspected of a crime and he was unconscious.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/09/08/after-utah-nurses-violent-arrest-local-prosecutors-ask-fbi-to-help-investigate-police/
Prosecutors in Utah’s Salt Lake County have asked the FBI to join a criminal probe into the violent arrest of a local nurse who was manhandled by a detective and shoved screaming into a squad car as she tried to protect the legal rights of a patient.
In a letter made public Thursday, District Attorney Sim Gill called on FBI agents to investigate whether the arresting officer or anyone else in the chain of command violated nurse Alex Wubbels’s civil rights or broke other laws during the July 26 incident.
Police body camera footage released last week showed Detective Jeff Payne of the Salt Lake City Police Department erupting at Wubbels at the University of Utah Hospital after she refused to let him draw blood from an unconscious patient, in accordance with hospital policy and federal law. Payne could be seen grabbing Wubbels by the arms and pushing her out of the building as she screamed “help me” and “your’re assaulting me.”
The altercation drew national attention and prompted the hospital to bar police from direct contact with nurses. The Salt Lake City mayor and other officials condemned the arrest, saying Wubbels had done nothing wrong. Multiple investigations are already underway, and Payne and another officer have been placed on administrative leave.
Gill’s office is conducting its own criminal probe but needs the FBI’s help to look into criminal civil rights violations, which fall under federal law.
“In order to be thorough, and given the gravity of the rights potentially implicated, all issues must be completely examined to restore the public trust currently compromised by the actions depicted in the publicly released video recordings of the incident,” Gill wrote. “Our community and its citizens deserve nothing less.”
An FBI spokeswoman told the Associated Press on Thursday that the agency had joined the county investigation. Salt Lake City police did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Gill’s letter specifically mentions Payne and asks the FBI to look into “other police officers and law enforcement personnel and anyone else acting under the color of authority, or failing to act when imposed with a duty to act.” That means the investigation could cover officers from the University of Utah and hospital guards, some of whom could be seen in the video standing by while Payne arrested the nurse.
Wubbels said in interviews this week that she had asked university security to intervene but they did nothing. University of Utah Police Chief Dale Brophy apologized in a news conference Monday, saying the video showed “how poorly the situation was handled.”
Wubbels was working as the charge nurse at the University of Utah Hospital’s burn unit when Payne arrived and demanded a blood sample from a truck driver who had been struck by a suspect fleeing police in another vehicle. The truck driver was not suspected of a crime and he was unconscious.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/09/08/after-utah-nurses-violent-arrest-local-prosecutors-ask-fbi-to-help-investigate-police/
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After Utah nurse’s violent arrest, local prosecutors ask FBI - tigerspy MU - 9/8 09:25:38
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