Anyone who sees footage of a Salt Lake City police detective try to bully a nurse at University of Utah Hospital into letting him draw blood from an unconscious drunk driving victim would wonder how it was possible this could happen in this country. The nurse told him that hospital policy, as well as state and federal law, did not allow police to draw blood from an unconscious patient unless police had a warrant or the patient was under arrest. The detective responded by violently cuffing her and briefly stuffing her in his patrol car.
Incredibly, a freelancer for The Daily Caller who is supposedly a lawyer watched that video and concluded the cop had done nothing wrong. Apparently, prosecutors in Salt Lake County are not of that mind. Late Wednesday, they asked the FBI to join the criminal investigation into the arrest.
Salt Lake County district attorney Sim Gill wrote a letter to Eric Barnhart, the head of the FBI in Salt Lake City, asking for federal assistance in the criminal probe of detective Jeff Payne’s behavior when he briefly arrested nurse Alex Wubbels for refusing to let him draw blood from truck driver William Gray. Gill wants the FBI to determine whether Payne and other officers “acting within the color of authority” engaged in “criminal conduct, criminal civil rights violations, or other violations of law.” Gill believes that FBI involvement is necessary to “restore the public trust” and “prevent such a thing from happening again.”
In a statement, Gill said that his office’s review has revealed “issues that go beyond merely a criminal investigation”–matters that only federal authorities can investigate. According to The Associated Press, Gill believes that some of those issues involve wrongful arrest and other potential federal civil rights violations. He also believes that a federal review could look into broader, systemic problems at the Salt Lake City Police Department.
Within 24 hours, the FBI accepted Gill’s request for assistance in the local investigation. FBI spokeswoman Sandra Yi Baker said that a federal civil rights review into the matter is already underway.
Gill told KUTV in Salt Lake City that residents deserve to know that this matter has been investigated, and that “we’re taking this seriously.” He added that his own investigation, and presumably the FBI’s investigation, will look into “how far up the chain” the decision to arrest Wubbels went. He also hinted that other officers, as well as higher-ups, could potentially face charges.
Based on what we know already, Payne and a lot of other Salt Lake City cops should be very afraid. It looks like there’s ample proof Payne was determined to get that blood draw–and the rights of Gray, Wubbels, and anyone else be hanged. If you watch the video from Payne’s body cam, Payne continues to threaten Wubbels with arrest even when Wubbels explains that his request doesn’t meet the criteria for getting blood.
If that isn’t enough to make Payne nervous, The Salt Lake Tribune captured this clip from his bodycam after Wubbels was stuffed into the car.
Payne and his watch commander, James Tracy–who reportedly told Payne to arrest Wubbels if she didn’t allow the draw–were discussing how to move forward after Wubbels’ arrest. Payne revealed that police in Logan, where the crash occurred, weren’t upset about getting the blood draw that day. If that’s true, any justification for Payne demanding the blood right then goes out the window. Unless he can explain why he couldn’t have taken the time to go to the courthouse and get a warrant, his behavior was completely unjustified. And unless Tracy can explain why he didn’t tell Payne to go get a warrant, he’d better update his resume.
If federal and local investigators are already looking into the prospect of civil rights violations at this point, it’s a sign that they’re already looking for a way to make an example of Payne if it is legally possible to do so. That can only be a good thing. There cannot be a next time for this in this country–anywhere, any time.
(featured image: screenshot via YouTube)
