Utah Detective Assaults and Falsely Arrests Nurse For Following Law

[4Freedom]

I am becoming more and more concerned with the status of our rights and the rise of what I feel is a militarized police state in our country. This woman was assaulted and arrested for following the law, which also was hospital policy. The detective had no authority to physically manhandle and hurt this woman, as well as to haul her to the police station.

The State Prosecutor is now looking into filing a criminal investigation against the officer. I'm hoping the hospital and nurse get a large settlement from this.

I respect good police officers and know that guys like this will only make the jobs of respectable police officers, who put their lives on the line to help the public, much more difficult. Why is it some police feel they can usurp our laws based on their own intuition? From what I am reading, what he did is consider a federal offense, by both falsely imprisoning a hospital employee and interfering in the care of a patient in the ER.

I have to say though that I am grateful for body cameras as it can diffuse any doubts of how this encounter went down.

What really angered me was just the bullying of the employees, manhandling of law-abiding respectable people like they were criminals. Then he threatens to arrest every one of the employees in the ER who stood in his way.

I am thinking this will be a very large lawsuit that can potentially enter in to a criminal case. It will the hospital going up against the Salt Lake City Police Department.

And , to be honest, Law Enforcement harassing and terrorizing hospital staff in the ER, who work so hard to save the lives of many people, including law enforcement officers wounded on duty, just is very sickening in itself. Sure hope people from this guy's department don't ever have to end up in a life-critical situation and need help from this hospital; as I don't think they should go out of their way for them.


In a strange twist, as I just read another article.. It appears that the crash victim, himself, was a Reserved police officer for a police department in Idaho. The Idaho police department where this officer serves actually called up the nurse to thank her for refusing the order from the Salt Lake City detective demanding an illegal blood test. So, as you can see, there is good law enforcement agencies out there, who are also having to deal with the bad actions of rogue police officers like this Salt Lake City detective, Jeff Payne.

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[Stomper]

The link is broken...

But based on what you said...

Maybe if bad cops started getting the living sheite physically beat out of them instead of hiding behind "qualified immunity" stuff like this might get mitigated.

 

[4Freedom]

Fixed the link and the youtube video has the full 15 minutes of video from every officer's body camera.

I agree with you fully Stomper. Police officers shouldn't get any special immunity if they commit crimes. We are suppose to have a civilian police force that helps to uphold the laws, protect and serve the community. But we seem to be devolving into a police state, where police have superior powers, more rights and much less accountability than the rest of the citizens.

In many states only the police have the right to keep and bear arms for example and these same police officers will arrest and/or kill peasants (I mean civilians) who try to execute their constitutional rights in these police states. In states like California, New York, New Jersey, etc, the police literally are a paramilitary force that has ultimate authority and can administer laws that violate our Federal laws and Bill of Rights.

 

[Alexx1401]

The link is broken...

But based on what you said...

Maybe if bad cops started getting the living sheite physically beat out of them instead of hiding behind "qualified immunity" stuff like this might get mitigated.

I watched this and it was again something that left me shaking my head and sad. Hopefully the guy will lose his job. This is what needs to happen. The sad part of this is a few morons like this feed the "I hate Cops" crowd. Just makes an already hard job worse for everyone. It is amazing how many who know full well they are on tape still can't control themselves. The Nurse will no doubt get a pay out. Sadly the tax payers take that hit. I would like to see cases this bad have the pension of the idiot make a portion of the pay out instead of all of it on the tax payer. As more of them lose their jobs the few bad will either get weeded out or learn to control themselves. This was a VERY simple case. He acted like getting the blood was a matter of life and death for him.

 

[Alexx1401]

The link is broken...

But based on what you said...

Maybe if bad cops started getting the living sheite physically beat out of them instead of hiding behind "qualified immunity" stuff like this might get mitigated.

There was another one here yesterday. Years ago a female Seattle Cop lost her job over being "stupid". It was a pretty clear case of her being stupid. Cost the tax payers a good chunk of change because she was stupid. Got better as they began to investigate and show she should never have been a Cop to begin with. This was not her first stupid screw up. Now she got a pay out of over 100K. Another hit on the tax payers and she walks away with her pension. I am a VERY big supporter of the Police. That is why I hate seeing stupid rewarded like this. Just makes the damn job that much harder to do.

 

[Camelfilter]

Yup big payday for her I hope, and most deservedly so.

However the law needs to change, and it should be changed.

Suspect refusing blood draw (in this case due to unconsciousness), bogus.

HIPPA SHMIPPA, the law needs to be adjusted for suspects, convicted criminals, and normal folk. It's not Church, Synagogue nor Mosque so sanctuary should not apply.

Let the result show what's percolating thru the suspects system.

Let's say the suspect just wiped out a carload carrying a family to and fro. Would it not be reasonable to determine what, if anything, the suspect was under the influence of?

 

[Garg]

Yup big payday for her I hope, and most deservedly so.

However the law needs to change, and it should be changed.

Suspect refusing blood draw (in this case due to unconsciousness), bogus.

HIPPA SHMIPPA, the law needs to be adjusted for suspects, convicted criminals, and normal folk. It's not Church, Synagogue nor Mosque so sanctuary should not apply.

Let the result show what's percolating thru the suspects system.

Let's say the suspect just wiped out a carload carrying a family to and fro. Would it not be reasonable to determine what, if anything, the suspect was under the influence of?

Yeah sure. Just get a warrant......

 

[4Freedom]

Yup big payday for her I hope, and most deservedly so.

However the law needs to change, and it should be changed.

Suspect refusing blood draw (in this case due to unconsciousness), bogus.

HIPPA SHMIPPA, the law needs to be adjusted for suspects, convicted criminals, and normal folk. It's not Church, Synagogue nor Mosque so sanctuary should not apply.

Let the result show what's percolating thru the suspects system.

Let's say the suspect just wiped out a carload carrying a family to and fro. Would it not be reasonable to determine what, if anything, the suspect was under the influence of?

If you read a little deeper into the article, the person being treated in the hospital was deemed the victim and was hit by a person evading the Utah Highway Patrol. There was no suspicion that he committed any criminal offense and he was not arrested. According to the law, the police are allowed to draw blood from somebody who is arrested and suspected of committing a criminal offense. However, the man was viewed as the victim and was not arrested and therefore the hospital was actually protecting his civil rights against unauthorized legal actions of the police department. So, the nurse was stating what was law, that in order to draw blood from somebody who does not consent (such as being unconscious) they would require a warrant from a judge. This is the case when a law-abiding citizen (who is not a suspect or arrested) is being demanded to have their blood drawn by law enforcement for analysis.

It could go both ways, as the hospital had him doped up on all types of painkillers, which could also potentially be misused to incriminate the victim as being complicent in the crash. The whole incident was not so black and white. As far as HIPAA, they could have possibly violated HIPAA in many ways, by giving the name and all types of personal details to the officer, but HIPAA maybe gives provisions for Law Enforcement to be given PHI information.

Yes, some may view the officer as doing some type of moral duty, but, in addition to having no legal authority to demand a blood test, he also was not doing anything to protect the victim of the crash. The victim of the crash was a reserve police officer, himself, and he was hit in his truck by the driver who was be chased by the police. From what I am reading, had the driver been the suspect, he could have been arrested, even while unconscious and then had a subseqent blood test done for toxicology reports. However, that was not the situation.

In my opinion, this episode was the result of a police officer who got pissed off that somebody interfered with his authority. Even, if he was in the right (which he wasn't), I would still have to question him manhandling and arresting an ER nurse and threatening to arrest all the staff in the ER. Most ERs are overworked and hauling nurses in ER to jail, could mean bringing harm to the lives of other innocent people who are in desperate need of medical care.

 

[Alexx1401]

Yup big payday for her I hope, and most deservedly so.

However the law needs to change, and it should be changed.

Suspect refusing blood draw (in this case due to unconsciousness), bogus.

HIPPA SHMIPPA, the law needs to be adjusted for suspects, convicted criminals, and normal folk. It's not Church, Synagogue nor Mosque so sanctuary should not apply.

Let the result show what's percolating thru the suspects system.

Let's say the suspect just wiped out a carload carrying a family to and fro. Would it not be reasonable to determine what, if anything, the suspect was under the influence of?

I have ZERO problem with the blood draw in this case. What bothered me is the way the LEO acted. Yes the law should be made FAR better in how it works. Not sure how it works in that sate. I see here all the time were LEO's get a warrant in the middle of the night. Get a forced draw at a local hospital if the driver will not submit. Never asked how they do it but it seems easy enough. So not sure if it was really hard for this LEO to get, or if he just did not feel anyone could tell him no.

 

[Oregonhunter5]

She don't need no money. What happend was Total crap! But she will live.

 

[Stomper]

Just watched the video...


If I had been in her position, I would have told him "I'm more than happy to assist you in your investigation, but I'm prohibited from drawing a blood sample outside of those stated parameters, you have no authority to conscript me to personally draw a blood sample outside of those stated pameters, and if you want a blood sample outside of those stated parameters go draw the sample yourself."


and because of his attitude.... "Now FRIK OFF! "

 

[albin25]

Makes you stop and wonder exactly what that desperate cop may have done to "unconscious" the person before he brought him in to the hospital. That cop seemed off the hook...the younger cop seemed embarrassed by his antics.
Could be that the cop was really hoping they'd find a reason in a blood test that he'd be able to use to get himself off the hook for what actually went down. Possibly from a gross violation of pursuit policy? Maybe hoping the victim was under the influence.

As far as a blood draw on an unconscious person...allow it, but don't allow it to be tested or it's results to be released to anyone without a warrant or court order. They can hold blood for long periods before testing.

The cop was out of line but there were ego driven mistakes on both sides that prevented de-escalation.

 

[cigars]

I like how everybody's panties are getting in a bunch because ONE cop of out how many hundreds or thousands screws up. Or, call it like it is...any reason at all for the cop haters to make an appearance. I'm not sticking up for what the cop did. It will be reviewed and he will be dealt with to whatever extent is appropriate.
First of all, walk a mile in a cops shoes. Then get back to us. these people volunteer to deal with scummy people all day and yet other scummy people demand almost impossible standards for the cops to meet.
To the cops credit though, 99.9% of them go above and beyond on a daily basis. Considering the daily backlash the cops get from all of the armchair quarterbacks, I'm surprised that they all don't take a month off and let the know-it-all idiots fend for themselves.
When there is no longer a review process or laws to hold cops accountable for misbehavior, then things will change. Until then, people will want to bash cops just for the sake of bashing cops. Take a break from the internet, please.

 

[Camelfilter]

Makes you stop and wonder exactly what that desperate cop may have done to "unconscious" the person before he brought him in to the hospital. That cop seemed off the hook...the younger cop seemed embarrassed by his antics.
Could be that the cop was really hoping they'd find a reason in a blood test that he'd be able to use to get himself off the hook for what actually went down. Possibly from a gross violation of pursuit policy? Maybe hoping the victim was under the influence.

As far as a blood draw on an unconscious person...allow it, but don't allow it to be tested or it's results to be released to anyone without a warrant or court order. They can hold blood for long periods before testing.

Yah. And if that nurse hadn't been trained in legal blood draws, the draw would be moot anyhow (chain of custody, proper collection vs standard venipuncture etc.), here in Oregon they have kits from the OSP lab which the officer needs to present. All #'d and such for evidence/chain of custody.

 

[Stomper]

I'm not bashing all cops, AT ALL... just THAT cop.

 

[Alexx1401]

She don't need no money. What happend was Total crap! But she will live.

No she does not need it. Will not matter. The city or county will pay just to make it go away. They have no choice at this point. If they let this go some bottom feeders will sign her on and take the tax payers for even more. This is an easy one. They do not want this in front of a jury. If it was me I would tell them if LEO can be fired and his pension taken? Great, I will take nothing. Since I am sure that can't happen the only way things change is if there is yet another pay out. Sad that this is how things work now.

 

[Alexx1401]

I'm not bashing all cops, AT ALL... just THAT cop.

 

[No_Regerts]

I get very frustrated with nurses and other medical professionals. Its laws of nature. A medical professional always thinks they are right and an LEO always wants to win.

As far as HIPPA, I keep a copy with me so I can shove the highlighted exemptions that exist for LE. Hospital staff are often unaware of these exemptions.

Reading their law, it does not appear the officer/detective had the right to take the sample unless the guy was under arrest or there was a warrant. Not sure either of those existed.

As far as toxicology screenings and hospital meds, those tests can differentiate between one thing or another pretty well.

 

[4Freedom]

I'm not bashing all cops, AT ALL... just THAT cop.

I respect law enforcement, but also believe they need to be held to a higher standard, not lower standard.

As far me, being a cop basher, I won't describe myself that way, but I understand some may perceive a post like this as simply cop bashing.

I am very quick to praise, honor and respect police officers when I believe they are in the right. In fact, in most high profile police shooting cases, I have usually taken the side of the police officer after being presented the facts. In another thread I made long ago, I supported the police officer, Darren Wilson, in the Michael Brown shooting, despite being insulted and reviled by many people for doing so.

I have been the personal victim of crooked cops growing up in Portland. When my car was stolen in Portland, the police officer failed to report it correctly. The parking garage wanted me to pay thousands of dollars in fines since they said the car was not stolen. After contacting the officer, he threatened to make me very, very sorry if he heard from me again. After contacting his supervisors and explaining my situation, he called me up very nervously to apologize and the car finally was reported properly. Sadly, I lost my car, because it was auctioned off and I had the ability to sue the Portland Police Department. However, I chose not to, out of respect for the good police officers I met working the crappy neighborhood I lived in.

I have also had police officers come to my aid and helped me in some bad situations. One who came to my side and helped me in a family dispute.

I am not a cop basher and I am not a cop worshipper. I'm a person who respects the police, but also is very quick to call out on law enforcement or any other government agency who I feel abuses our civil rights. And, I am quick to condemn those who attack and insult police officers for doing their job and following the law as well..

This particular incident just really got under my skin and I just felt like sharing my feelings about it.

By the way, ER people also have very hard and rigorous jobs. Where is the respect for them? My brother worked in an ER for many years. You would be amazed at how many police end up in an ER and depend on these very same people to save their life.


P.S. My best friend when leaving Idaho was a former US Marshall and retired police officer. His sentiments about abuse of power in law enforcement are the same as mine. I consider him a very honorable person and respected his service as a police officer and as a veteran in the military.

 

[4Freedom]

Yah. And if that nurse hadn't been trained in legal blood draws, the draw would be moot anyhow (chain of custody, proper collection vs standard venipuncture etc.), here in Oregon they have kits from the OSP lab which the officer needs to present. All #'d and such for evidence/chain of custody.

Actually, the detective, himself, was a trained phlebotomist and was going to draw the blood himself. He wanted to have personal access to the patient. I am reading that they have detectives who have special training in performing legal blood draws. Allowing the police officer to draw blood from the patient in the hospital definitely could also pose serious liability issue to the hospital. In fact, had they allowed the officer to perform that blood test, in theory, the patient could also come back and sue the hospital and the nurse.

It was a very sticky situation for the hospital. Not just morally, but also legally and financially. That nurse would have possibly lost her job to by violating the hospital's policy.