Utah officer fired after nurse's arrest caught on video

Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown made the decision after an internal investigation found evidence Detective Jeff Payne violated department policies when he arrested nurse Alex Wubbels and dragged her out of the hospital as she screamed on July 26, said Sgt. Brandon Shearer, a spokesman for the department.
...............

Payne's supervisor, Lt. James Tracy, was also demoted to officer. His lawyer, Ed Brass, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Utah officer fired after nurse's arrest caught on video

You may remember the story of Nurse Wubbles, who refused to allow Detective Payne to do a blood draw on a comatose patient who had been the victim of a police chase gone very wrong.



Well, justice prevailed this time and the offending officer was fired from the Salt Lake City PD, and his superior, Lt Tracy has been demoted to officer. Nurse Wubbles was NOT in the wrong, she didn't "obstruct justice", as some have claimed. She's completely vindicated!

Brown said in a disciplinary letter that he was “deeply troubled” by Payne’s conduct, which he described as “inappropriate, unreasonable, unwarranted, discourteous, disrespectful” and said brought “significant disrepute” on the department.
“You demonstrated extremely poor professional judgment (especially for an officer with 27 years of experience), which calls into question your ability to effectively serve the public and the department,” Brown wrote.
ksn.com...

Yeah!

And of Lieutenant Tracy, Brown wrote:

Tracy made an impulsive decision in ordering Payne to arrest Wubbels without first taking time to understand the facts of the situation and the law, Brown wrote in his disciplinary letter.
He said the order created chaos and unnecessarily escalated the situation.
“Your lack of judgment and leadership in this matter is unacceptable, and as a result, I no longer believe that you can retain a leadership position in the department,” Brown said.

a reply to: windword

Can we make sure he is aware he is a pos

a reply to: windword
An excellent result for something that never should have happened.
I think most people that saw the poor nurse being handcuffed and dragged outside, thought that the officers actions were way out of line.

a reply to: windword

Respekt mah authorititah gaaaah


Meanwhile, ACTUAL crimes are happening.

About time! They should also be grateful she didn't decide to pursue legal recourse. Many would have.

I’m very pro cop,I know many and most are great people. This outcome is fitting and I hope she gets a nice check out of this. My only question is, if the Lt. ordered the arrest, why is he not fired also?? To idiots with guns!

a reply to: WUNK22

Is it a requirement to be morbidly obese, cuz they seem to got that down.

This was a situation that was a case of poor judgement peppered with ego. A combination which can quickly escalate and explode.

I had a situation last week that caused me to butt heads with road patrol and a detective, which escalated to the police chief. I decided that the fight was not worth it. The patient had already gone through enough, and for me to push what I thought was right, would not make the situation any better for the patient.

Fate sometimes shows up right on time. In the end it created a huge paper burden for the police department, and took three times the amount of time that it would have taken if they had listened to me, instead of flexing their muscles. The road officer and the detective both apologized and admitted their mistakes. They turned out to be two really nice people. They just got caught up in the complexity of the situation and a bit of politics got in the way.

I think this case has helped a lot in making us rethink about how we handle difficult situations, especially when they involve multiple agencies.

Yay... innumerable murders, general injustices and instances of abuse of power to go.

(with the ever present caveat that there are very very good peace officers, of course ... but they should make a point of breaking the blue wall and mending the horrid reputation the bad guys in blue bring to all police)

Don’t know any fat cops in New York. Too busy chasing democrat voters!a reply to: Lysergic

a reply to: windword


Thank-you for doing what the short attention spanned MSM can't do. Bringing everyone up-to-date was very considerate.

I'm glad the nurse is vindicated. Maybe she'll do the American thing, and SUE now? She'd be wise to move too. That fired police officer looks like he'd go bat-chit crazy, when his savings run out.

Happy for the update and believe they, overdue however, did the right thing sacking him.

Good. That guy was on more than a power trip. I think he actually starts to realize it towards the end of the video too.

originally posted by: Aeshma
a reply to: windword

Can we make sure he is aware he is a pos

This officer should have been beaten badly by everyone in that ER.

My skin crawls with the weakness of everyone there.

I am not sure what disgusted me more...the cop or the fact that noone told him to his face to back down or feel fear through his soul on an unimaginable scale.

a reply to: windword

Resigning or being fired should make no difference.

The bloke should be charged with assualt and battery
the nuse should take out an action against the police force concered for damgges for pain and suffering and exmeployry damages.
she should take out a comerical lien for the tort of pain and suffering
the city should size all his asets and hold them unitl all legal action is complete so if necessay, his assets can be sold to repay the city for its damages to the nurse.

Rsigning or getting fired is a get out of goal free card and it should be taken off him.

And what about these two hero's.



They certainly didn't earn those stripes for bravery in the line of fire.

Good result and we'll deserved, officer peanut was well out of line and firing him is appropriate, one less power tripping cop on the beat.

originally posted by: Soloprotocol
And what about these two hero's.

They certainly didn't earn those stripes for bravery in the line of fire.

They were earned at donut king.

a reply to: windword

I would like to echo the thoughts of others, who have commended you on keeping us up to date with this story, since follow up is rare these days, and welcome. I would also agree with other posters in this thread, that this outcome is correct and proper, given the situation, with the following caveat:

Simply put, a police officer ought to operate within the law, not above it, around it, or in violation of the law. Using ones power improperly is something which ought to come not only with a loss of position, but jail time. The officer concerned, and arguably his immediate superior (who gave the order), should both be up on charges of some sort, over this matter.

There must be a higher standard for those enforcing the law, than there is for the wider public. Police officers should be at a minimum, capable of knowing the limitations of their power in law, and with regard to the constitution of the country they operate within. If they prove otherwise, there should be ramifications of the sort which cannot be mitigated by simply moving to a different state and taking up work elsewhere.

originally posted by: Sagacity
About time! They should also be grateful she didn't decide to pursue legal recourse. Many would have.

Don't be surprised if there are two successful lawsuits that come out of this.

One from the nurse, of course...and the other from the cop who was fired for following a direct order from his superior.