Nah
Ya’ll remember the truck driver killed and a nurse tried to come to his rescue when he was in hospital.?
And then there were about 4 other truck accidents in short time
The incident you’re referring to likely occurred on July 26, 2017, at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. A truck driver, William Gray, was severely injured in a head-on collision caused by a pickup truck driver, Marcos Torres, who was fleeing from Utah Highway Patrol troopers. Gray, a commercial truck driver and part-time reserve police officer from Rigby, Idaho, suffered severe burns and was admitted to the hospital’s burn unit in a comatose state. Torres died at the scene.
Salt Lake City Police Detective Jeff Payne arrived at the hospital to obtain a blood sample from Gray, as requested by Logan police, to check for any chemical substances, despite Gray not being suspected of wrongdoing. Nurse Alex Wubbels, the charge nurse on duty, refused to allow the blood draw, citing hospital policy and legal requirements. The policy, agreed upon by the hospital and police, required either a warrant, patient consent, or the patient being under arrest—none of which applied. Wubbels explained this calmly, even presenting a printout of the policy and consulting with hospital supervisors.
Payne, claiming he had “implied consent” to draw the blood, became agitated. After Wubbels continued to refuse, he forcibly arrested her, grabbing her, handcuffing her, and dragging her out of the hospital while she screamed, “I’ve done nothing wrong!” She was detained in a police car for about 20 minutes before being released without charges. The incident was captured on Payne’s body camera and hospital surveillance footage, which Wubbels and her attorney, Karra Porter, released on August 31, 2017. The footage went viral, sparking widespread outrage over the officer’s actions.
Aftermath:
• Hospital and Police Response: The hospital implemented a new policy within weeks, barring police from patient-care areas and requiring officers to interact with trained supervisors instead. The Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD) suspended Payne from its blood draw program, updated its policies, and launched a 35-day internal affairs investigation. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill and the FBI also investigated the incident, with the FBI opening a civil rights review.
• Consequences for Payne: SLCPD fired Payne in October 2017, and he was also terminated from his part-time paramedic job after comments he made about retaliating against Wubbels by bringing transient patients to the hospital. Payne’s supervisor, Lt. James Tracy, was demoted. Payne later sued the SLCPD in 2019, claiming wrongful termination and arguing he was following orders and outdated department policies. He sought over $300,000 in damages but was hired by the Weber County Sheriff’s Office as a part-time corrections assistant in 2019.
• Wubbels’ Actions: Wubbels, a former Olympic skier, settled with Salt Lake City and the University of Utah for $500,000 in November 2017. She used part of the settlement to fund efforts helping others access police body camera footage and donated to the Utah Nurses Association, also leading the #EndNurseAbuse campaign.
• Patient Outcome: William Gray never recovered and died on September 25, 2017, from his injuries.
• Legal Changes: The incident led to Utah lawmakers passing a bill, signed into law by Governor Gary Herbert on March 15, 2018, amending blood draw policies for law enforcement to prevent similar incidents.
This event highlighted issues of patient rights, police overreach, and the importance of clear policies. Wubbels was widely praised for protecting Gray’s rights, with the Rigby Police Department calling her actions “truly heroic.”
Interesting
Why do they feell the need to address this so aggressively?