SALT LAKE CITY – The Latest on a Utah nurse whose rough arrest has drawn condemnation (all times local):
4 p.m.
A lawyer for a Utah police lieutenant says he's been the target of multiple online threats since a video of a nurse being handcuffed and dragged out of the hospital by a detective received widespread attention.
Attorney Ed Brass tells the Deseret News on Friday that Lt. James Tracy has served Salt Lake City for nearly 30 years, and judgment should be withheld until a full investigation is complete.
Tracy was supervising Salt Lake City police Detective Jeff Payne when he arrested Alex Wubbels after she refused to allow a blood draw on an unconscious patient under hospital policy.
Body camera video of the encounter shows Payne saying he was acting on Tracy's orders, and Tracy later pushing for the blood draw after Wubbels was handcuffed in a police car.
Payne's lawyer hasn't yet commented.
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12:30 p.m.
Authorities say a Utah police officer whose rough arrest of a nurse has drawn condemnation put the woman in handcuffs even after investigators told him not to worry about getting a blood sample.
Logan Police Chief Gary Jensen said Friday that his officers initially wanted the sample as part of a car crash investigation.
But after detective Jeff Payne was told he'd need a warrant or formal consent, colleagues told him to let it go and they would pursue another strategy.
Payne nevertheless insisted. When nurse Alex Wubbels held her ground based on hospital policy, he dragged her screaming from the hospital in handcuffs.
Salt Lake City police apologized and put Payne on paid leave after dramatic video of the arrest surfaced.
Prosecutors also opened a criminal investigation.
Payne's lawyer Greg Skordas declined to comment.
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