Abusive Utah Cop Fired
Former Salt Lake City Police Detective Jeff Payne was finally fired after an investigation revealed he violated department policy.
Payne aggressively hand cuffed and arrested a nurse who would not let him draw blood from an unconscious patient, stating the detective needed a warrant or the patient’s permission. Alex Wubbels the nurse that was arrested, was following the hospital’s policies and procedures.
This is the right outcome for this situation, although most have to question the timing. Did the police department really need nearly 3 months to determine that this guy didn’t need a badge and a gun anymore.
Not only was he fired, but prosecutors have asked the FBI to initiate a civil rights investigation. If this was the standard for bad police behavior, you wouldn’t see these protests. If police officers who violate people’s civil rights in plane sight, with video evidence, were actually fired and held accountable you wouldn’t see these protests. If the good police officers on every police force stepped up when they saw another officer stepping outside of the lines, while difficult, you wouldn’t see these protests.
Plenty of police departments could take a page from what happened in Salt Lake City and how they handled this situation.
A Utah police officer who was caught on video dragging a nurse out of the hospital after she refused to let him draw blood has been fired.
Salt Lake City Police Det. Jeff Payne was given the boot after the department found he had violated its policies when arresting nurse Alex Wubbels on July 26, a police spokesman said.
Wubbels can be seen and heard on body-cam footage screaming as she was being dragged out of the University of Utah Hospital by Payne.
The two initially engaged in a heated argument after Wubbels told Payne he either needed a warrant or the patient’s consent to draw blood.
Lt. James Tracy, Payne’s supervisor, was demoted. He was at the scene and told Wubbels that she should’ve let Payne draw blood. The nurse was released and never charged.
The police department has since apologized for the incident and placed the two cops on administrative leave amid its investigation. Prosecutors have asked the FBI to open a civil rights investigation.
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
