It can make all the difference between a rightful response from law enforcement, e.g. an officer's paid leave, or a wrongful criminal charge against an innocent person, e.g. an assault charge.
That said, imagine the nurse in this news story alone, trying to tend to this unfortunate patient. And then, just as in this story, imagine a trigger happy cop showing up, demanding something in the belief he's going to crack the Next Big Case.
The nurse, of course, would still refuse the cop and stand up for her right to treat her patient first. But would she get beat up and pepper sprayed as Sophie and I did when I stood up for my legal right to not have my trained service dog on a leash? Based on what's apparent in the video clip, the unfortunate answer is Maybe.
There's an obvious need to be certain of what happens in every interaction between law enforcement and the public, and it's a prime reason for having police body-cams.
Police accounts are often biased toward the officer and, as so many of us know firsthand, cops are just people who can make a mistake then try to cover it up by blaming whoever is most convenient.
Consider what this officer did, in a hospital no less, with many witnesses present. Other officers were present who, interestingly, didn't lift a finger to de-escalate the situation, perhaps for fear of being unwilling to back up one of their "brothers."
Now imagine the cop charging her with assaulting him. It's exactly what happened to Sophie and I when we were assaulted by a BLM officer in the Arizona desert last February.
The nurse in this story was understandably reluctant to leave her patient. Still, like me, she did not fight back against the cop. He simply grabbed her and dragged her by force away from the scene.
It's exactly what happened to me as well, though we were alone in the jagged and rocky desert sand. Unlike the nurse in this story, I'm at a disadvantage in terms of health and age. She's a young, able-bodied, former Olympic athlete. I'm a one-armed, fifty-something amputee who's decidedly out of shape.
If a city cop, like this one, is belligerent and unreasonable, he is no longer just a law enforcement officer; he becomes a thug with a badge. Only such a person could perpetrate this act upon a nurse in broad daylight and in a public place.
With all the ample evidence to support my position plainly visible here, there's no question that another, similarly motivated thug with a badge would be both cruel and criminal enough to attack my service dog Sophie and I.
He could even then have the audacity to take it a step further by incarcerating me and impounding Sophie. Then, as his piéce de resistance, he could justify charging me with misdemeanor assault, using the premise that he "believed he was in danger" from Sophie and I.
All the police reports, his personal testimony and all other paperwork he could fill out would falsely reflect my culpability. The entire coverup, I think, gave him a thrill. It put a little sophomoric excitement into an otherwise mundane occupation; "Will I get caught or won't I?"
Just as in the story below, other cops were present. These arrived after I was handcuffed to the brush guard of a truck where I was made to sit for about two hours. They only had a big laugh at my expense. One of them even tormented me with disparaging remarks about Sophie's "real" qualifications as a service dog, and even threats of bodily harm-while I was chained to a truck, no less.
It was an obvious effort to provoke me, as they all needed something from me they'd never get. That is, an emotional response, an outburst from me to justify the wrongdoing they were all guilty of committing.
What was infinitely worse was that Sophie had been pepper sprayed in both eyes as she approached me when I was down on the ground. She's trained to do that and also to stay, but now was nowhere to be seen.
Not only was I unsure of her health-was she alive or dead?- but, until then, we hadn't been separated for years.
A week later, when all this was over and we were joyously reunited again, we also found ourselves constantly in doubt of our surroundings, particularly when law enforcement officers are present. We still do.
An assault like Sophie and I endured last February is like a sick and twisted gift that keeps on giving. Reading news stories like this one brings back all the terrifying events of our experience as if it all happened moments ago. It's called PTSD, and I'm very grateful to have a good therapist to help me through its insidious influences.
Until I can read stories like this one, or see a face who suddenly reminds me of one of the officers present at the scene, or someone else in the jail or in the courtroom, or any one of a zillion things that bring back my and my Sophie's assault, like any reasonable person would, I'll continue to relive that experience.
I'm a good and a kind and loving person. I share my life with a loyal best friend who's been trained by me to reflect the kindness, love and deference to others within me.
People consistently approach me when we're out just to tell me how beautiful and well trained she is. When I leave her in our modest 30 foot RV/home to grab some milk and eggs, disappointed store employees who've met her before will tell me they missed seeing her and ask me to rub her ears for them.
This kind of natural beauty my Sophie carries is not a result of any bias I have for my dog, but a genuine reflection of the kind and beautifully attractive spirit within her that makes her so universally loved, even among strangers.
And that's why, on the evening of February 12, 2017, Sophie and I were so suddenly shocked and violently torn apart by someone solely bent on hurting someone else. We just had the misfortune of being in that person's way.
It's nothing I take personally, for the person who hurt us has no idea of how wonderful we are. Still, Sophie and I both remain hurt by our experience, and our faith in others has been sorely tested. We will always carry scars from it, for such things are never "simply forgotten."
What follows is the news story to which I made reference above. So many aspects of this story share commonalities with our experience last February that I cannot count them all. We may still carry strong associations from our hellish experience together, but I'm hoping that, with time, those wounds will heal.
NBC News, September 2, 2017:
Two Salt Lake City police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave after shocking video of a nurse's arrest sparked nationwide outrage.
The Salt Lake City police department announced Friday that it had put Detective Jeff Payne, the officer who arrested Alex Wubbels, plus a second employee, on leave "pending the results of an investigation." The second employee was not identified, but police spokeswoman Christina Judd confirmed to NBC News on Saturday that he was also a police officer.
The incident happened on July 26 after an unconscious patient was brought into the University of Utah Hospital following a road accident that left him badly burned. Payne wanted blood drawn from the patient.
In 19 minutes of police bodycam footage that was made public, Payne insists Wubbels, who works in the burn unit, draw blood. When Wubbels refuses, citing hospital protocol, Payne becomes increasingly agitated.
In 19 minutes of police bodycam footage that was made public, Payne insists Wubbels, who works in the burn unit, draw blood. When Wubbels refuses, citing hospital protocol, Payne becomes increasingly agitated.
Bodycam Shows Arrest of Salt Lake City Nurse for Refusing Blood Sample 1:05
But Wubbels doesn't back down in the videos, which may have been edited.
"No, we're done," Payne says abruptly. "You're under arrest, we're going!"
He is then seen forcing her wrists into handcuffs before dragging her to the back of the patrol car. She was later released and was not charged.
The patient was a truck driver who was hurt when his vehicle collided with that of another driver who was fleeing police, according to NBC affiliate KSL-TV. The Associated Press, citing police sources, said he is a reserve police officer in Rigby, Idaho.
In a written report obtained by the Salt Lake City Tribune, Payne said he needed the blood sample to determine whether the patient had illicit substances in his system at the time of the crash. The patient's name has not been released.
The dramatic video prompted widespread condemnation for the officer's actions and apologies from the Salt Lake City police chief and mayor.
National Nurses United, the country's largest nursing union, called the encounter "outrageous."
Wubbels told NBC News on Friday that the worst part wasn't that she was manhandled by a detective — it was that none of the other officers who were watching intervened.
"I was being bullied and nobody was willing to speak up for me," she said.
The video was released through Wubbels' attorneys. Prosecutors have called for a criminal investigation into it.
NBC News has reached out to Payne for comment.
Wubbels, 41, is a former Olympic athlete who competed as an Alpine skier in 1998 and 2002. She has worked at the hospital since 2009.
The inquiry into her case will be run by Salt Lake County's Unified Police, Judd, the Salt Lake City police spokeswoman, said. The district attorney's office will review the findings and determine whether they merit criminal charges.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that a blood sample cannot be taken without patient consent or a warrant. Judd said Salt Lake City police updated their blood-draw policy "right away" to match the hospital's, and has already re-trained all remaining officers on the updated policy.
Police also met with hospital officials within 24 hours of the incident to figure out "what we needed to change to make sure it didn’t happen again," Judd said.
"We have a really strong tie to the nurses that we work with. The police interact with nurses multiple times a day sometimes, and we never want to fracture that relationship," she said.
"We took the incident very seriously from the moment we found out about it and have been working really diligently with Wubbels' attorney and ... herself, and trying to make sure that no one in the medical profession ever needs to fear a police officer here," she added. "It’s so sad that we’ve had this rift in our relationship with the medical community and we’re working hard to fix that."
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