SLC mayor makes public apology to nurse: Officer’s actions ‘not justified’
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SALT LAKE CITY — In response to a disturbing video of an arrest of a University of Utah nurse, Salt Lake City mayor Jackie Biskupski and Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown held a press conference Friday afternoon to condemn the actions of the officer and reassure the public that an investigation is being taken.
Biskupski called the video “completely unacceptable” and extended a personal apology to nurse Alex Wubbels, according to KSL.
Brown said an Internal Affairs investigation started within 12 hours of the incident. A civilian review board is also running a parallel investigation.
“We’ve looked at the actions that took place, the policies that could have prevented it, and the training that must be done,” Brown said. “Within 24 hours of this incident, Salt Lake City Police Department took steps to ensure this will never happen again.”
Brown said the department also apologized for the incident and the officer involved, Salt Lake police detective Jeff Payne, has been suspended from the blood draw program. When asked if Payne would be fired, Brown declined to give a firm answer, saying they would wait for the investigations to conclude before they take further action.
“Trust in the process and please trust our police department,” Brown said.
Biskupski added that they believe the actions of Payne were not justified but that the public should still trust the police department because of the actions already taken. The department is also planning to work with Wubbels on better training for police officers working with medical professionals.
A video released Thursday showed Payne arresting Wubbels after she refused to give Payne vials of blood that he needed for an investigation because she said he did not have a warrant or meet any of the mandatory criteria needed for taking blood.
Wubbels was later released and no charges were ever filed against her. Wubbels released the video because she said she wanted the public to hear her story and see the disturbing body camera video.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert also released a statement on Friday morning via Twitter.
The footage of Alex Wubbels' arrest is disturbing. We trust that the @slcpd will quickly respond and rectify the situation.
— Gov. Gary Herbert (@GovHerbert) September 1, 2017