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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI've Got A New Crush.
Alex Wubbels. The nurse who stands up for her patient's rights in the face of a belligerent cop. Then she gets smacked around, handcuffed, and stuffed into a patrol car...and then has to sit there for ten minutes while ANOTHER belligerent cop mansplains to her why the goon who just assaulted her is right and she's wrong. And she STILL didn't back down.
I'm definitely in love.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)When I watched the video, it seemed apparent that Detective Tough Guy decided to pick on the woman when he got stymied in his attempt to circumvent the law. Nurse Wubbels competed in the Olympics, and put up more of a fight than Payne signed on for. That, in turn, made him all the angrier and more determined to teach that uppity woman a lesson. Incorrect strategy.
TrollBuster9090
(5,954 posts)If it wasn't for those body cameras, Payne would still be on duty, and Wubbels would be in jail without a nursing license.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)It sounds like the State Police engaged in a high-speed chase which may not have been the best idea under the circumstances- and as such one might speculate that the impetus to get a blood sample from the "victim" was a cover-their-ass move by the cops.
TrollBuster9090
(5,954 posts)The police chased a suspect in a pickup truck. The result of the high speech chase was that the pickup crashed into this guy's semi. Could that accident have been avoided? Maybe it wasn't a good idea to instigate the chase?
Best case scenario: They wanted to draw a fresh blood sample to PROOVE that there were no drugs or alcohol in his blood, and therefore he didn't contribute to the crash.
Worst case scenario: They wanted to draw a fresh blood sample because they were HOPING he had booze or drugs in his system, so that they could claim he was partly or fully to blame for the crash.
lpbk2713
(42,750 posts)Every one of them is a special human being.
(But I could be biased. My daughter is a cardiac care nurse. )
TrollBuster9090
(5,954 posts)but the shift work makes it even worse. Nurses become burnt out so quickly, and so many of them either leave the profession, or try to get part-time work instead of full time.
Kudos to your daughter. Any nurse has my utmost respect.
roamer65
(36,745 posts)This is a prime example.
The cameras are giving us a window into their Gestapo-like tactics.
Amaryllis
(9,524 posts)sequence of events? Did they end up letting her go or hauling her in? And who made the decision? Did hospital admin intervene, or?
tblue37
(65,269 posts)TrollBuster9090
(5,954 posts)They ended up releasing her without charge, but only because they realized that a blood sample had ALREADY been drawn from the victim, which they could get at. So, there was no longer any need to draw a blood sample, which is what she was preventing them from doing. As far as I know, at no point did any of the cops that were present decide that what they'd done was wrong. It's amazing.
There was a Supreme Court ruling recently that police can't draw a blood sample from an unconscious patient unless they have a warrant, or unless the patient is under arrest. The hospital's policy was simply backing that up. The detective (Payne) was there to draw blood, and Wubbel's was telling him he wasn't allowed to. She printed the policy statement out, and put her supervisor on speaker phone. The mansplaining Lieutenant was trying to tell her that she should have let the cop take blood, and if it TURNED OUT to be wrong, there are 'civil remedies' for that. In other words, let the police do whatever they want, and let the lawyers sort it out later.
You probably heard the results so far. The Mayor said it was awful, and the Police Chief apologized. (Two meaningless acts.) The cop was put on administrative leave (meaning he still draws a salary without having to do any work--another meaningless act), and the hospital made a new policy that the police are no longer allowed to go into the ER unless they have a warrant. In the past, the police were given free access in and out of the ER. Now they have to stay in the reception area. Nurse Wubbels is *thinking* about suing the police department. I don't know if the hospital is thinking about any additional legal action.
jeffreyi
(1,938 posts)Thank goodness she didn't back down to that mansplaining condescending supervisor bastard. He should be fired too.
Also, whoever released the video didn't block out the suspect's id information, both audio and scribbled on the paper. Unprofessional, at minimum.
TrollBuster9090
(5,954 posts)They should have blanked out the information. If you leave that kind of information IN when you release the footage, it only gives ammunition to the opponents of body cameras.