A University Hospital nurse who was arrested by a Salt Lake City police officer after barring him from drawing blood from an unconscious patient said Tuesday has reached a monetary settlement with “all parties,” her attorney said Tuesday.
Attorney Karra Porter said at a Tuesday news conference that nurse Alex Wubbels had settled for a sum of $500,000.
This story will be updated.
The July 26 encounter began when nurse Alex Wubbels refused to allow Salt Lake City Detective Jeff Payne to draw blood from an unconscious patient involved in a fiery crash in Cache County earlier in the day.
Wubbels pointed out that the crash victim was not under arrest, that Payne did not have a warrant to obtain the blood and that he could not obtain consent because the man was unconscious.
Payne insisted he had implied consent to get the blood and eventually arrested Wubbels. He handcuffed her and placed her in a police car outside the hospital, then released her after about 20 minutes. Charges were never filed against the nurse.
The arrest drew widespread condemnation after Porter released police body camera and hospital security footage of the encounter on Aug. 31.
Wubbels is heard on footage of the incident asking a University police officer to protect her because Payne had threatened her with arrest. The U. officer informed the nurse that if she interfered with Payne’s investigation, she would be obstructing justice and he would not prevent the detective from arresting her.
The footage shows that as Payne moves to arrest Wubbels — grabbing and chasing her — she screams and backs into the U. police officer. The officer places a hand on Wubbels’ shoulder, apparently assisting Payne. (Other hospital employees appear to try and talk Payne down as the arrest is taking place.)
On Sept. 13, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski announced an internal affairs investigation had found Payne and Lt. James Tracy violated several department policies during their interaction with Wubbels. A review by the city’s independent Police Civilian Review Board also found the officers violated department policies.
The patient at the center of the controversy was 43-year-old William Gray, a full-time truck driver and a part-time reserve officer with the Rigby, Idaho, police department. He was severely burned on nearly half of his body in the July 26 crash and died Sept. 25.
A man in a pickup truck who was fleeing from the Utah Highway Patrol collided head-on into Gray’s semi on U.S. 89/91 near Sardine Canyon, according to Logan police, who investigated the crash. The pickup’s driver, Marcos Torres, 26, died at the scene.
After the crash, Logan police requested that Salt Lake City police obtain a blood sample from Gray.
Porter has countered that the CDL regulation covers what an employer — not a law-enforcement officer — is supposed to do after an employee is in an accident. Another CDL regulation adopts states’ implied consent law but Utah’s statute specifically requries reasonable suspicion that a person was intoxicated before a sample can be taken, she said.
A criminal investigation into the arrest — which involves the Unified Police Department, the FBI and the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office — continues.
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