Posted on 09/01/2017 7:34:22 AM PDT by BobNative
A nurse says she was assaulted and illegally arrested by a Salt Lake City police detective for following a hospital policy that does not allow blood draws from unconscious patients.
Footage from University Hospital and officer body cameras shows Detective Jeff Payne and nurse Alex Wubbels in a standoff over whether the policeman should be allowed to get a blood sample from a patient who had been injured in a July 26 collision in northern Utah that left another driver dead.
Wubbels says blood cannot be taken from an unconscious patient unless the patient is under arrest, unless there is a warrant allowing the draw or unless the patient consents. The detective acknowledges in the footage that none of those requirements is in place, but he insists that he has the authority to obtain the draw, according to the footage.
(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
Nope. The unconscious patient in this situation is the victim of a head-on crash caused by a perp the Utah police were chasing. He's not a suspect in anything, which is why there's no arrest and no warrant. There's absolutely no cause for his blood to be drawn in this case.
Patient gives permission? No worries, blood is turned over to the cops. Patient *doesn't* give permission? OK, now we're looking at warrant, or court order.
Patient's rights are protected. No one gets arrested.
But that's with hindsight and forethought. In the moment, with everyone not at the top of their game, dealing with a fatal car accident, and two people (the nurse and the cop) who weren't willing to budge .... whole different story.
Also I am sure the hospital did all the necessary blood draws in the course of regular treatment and that information could be obtained via a warrant.
If the hospital had permitted the clear violation of the patient's rights against search and seizure it would have opened itself up to a lawsuit from the patient. It and their staff are not a forensic arm of the police. The police officer should have placed the unconscious man under arrest, based on their reasonable (if he had such reasonable suspicion —"I smelled alcohol on his breath.") that he was criminally responsible for the death, gotten the sample legally, and been done with it. Alternately, he should have obtained a court order for the drawing of the blood. Do it legally.
In this case, it’s “hospital policy” to follow the law. RTFA.
Read the whole article, he’s talking about how to even up on the hospital afterwards. Guy shouldn’t be in a position of authority, anywhere.
[Should “hospital policy” trump the needs of law enforcement?]
Ummm... perhaps you should read the 4th Amendment....
Sounds like the cop(s) know he/they did something illegal and they are trying to create the opportunity to cover their tracks, in a big way.
“””It just adds more fuel to the fire that we have a large number of cops who are unable to perform their job in a proficient manner. Even when they let this guy go....he’ll be a TSA agent within a week or two.”””
It means we have cops who believe they are above the law. It’s becoming common.
I did not watch the video. But....
The headline says the nurse was dragged and was screaming.
Is she nuts?
She’s being arrested and is going to jail over “hospital policy”? And - she’ll likely be fired for her idiot reaction.
She’s nuts. She over stepped her duties.
;-) Reasoned, clear, factual statements in FR commentary? Every single time? Surely you jest.
Well. If the victim was under influence of sometin’ it would illiminate the matter...why couldnt the officer get a warrant from on-call judge over phone with resultant fax?
....or official email etc..officer would have to demonstrate due cause and prove it....hey why cant we have a 911 judge...we got emts, ambulance chasers, firemen, police, news reporters, why not judges?
So did they start arresting the entire hospital staff until they found someone who would meet his demands?
> As an aside, and with hindsight and some thought, maybe the best way to handle it was to draw the blood and store it until the pt regained consciousness. <
I must respectfully disagree. As an analogy, suppose the cops want to search your house, and they don’t have a warrant. The come to your house anyway. But no one is there to give consent.
Would it be okay for them to search anyway, and then hope for your consent when you return?
Hope this Constituon-loving patriot wins big in her lawsuit.
It appears the nurse is simply relaying information given to her by someone on the phone? I wondered why none of the other officers present tried to diffuse the situation?
Since the person in the hospital is a victim of a head-on crash caused by a perp fleeing the cops, I seriously doubt a warrant will be issued to begin with. The perp the cops were chasing died in the crash, so there'll be no case against him, either.
> Good thing he didn’t shoot her. <
Also good there were no dogs around.
The act of drawing the blood, absent consent or a legal order (as in, arrest or court order) violates the patient’s fourth amendment rights. The “middle way” you describe can (and will) be used to circumvent the rights of the individual.
As I understand the situation, the patient was not under pursuit - he was hit by someone the police were pursuing. Therefore, any blood draw (absent consent or legal order) is a fishing expedition by the police to defray their obvious culpability.
>>Good thing he didn’t shoot her.
Her dog wasn’t there. Government thugs will rough up a woman, but they shoot the dog.
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