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Police Union Criticizes Salt Lake City Response To Wubbels Arrest

Body camera footage shows nurse Alex Wubbels being grabbed and handcuffed after refusing to draw blood from an unconscious patient at the hospital.

The president of the Salt Lake Police Association is accusing Salt Lake City’s mayor and police chief of tainting an investigation into University Hospital nurse Alex Wubbels’ arrest. 

In a letter to Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown, the police union’s president Stephen Hartney said their repeated statements to the media have unfairly made pariahs of the officers who arrested Wubbels.

On July 26, Salt Lake Police Detective Jeff Payne was sent to the hospital to collect blood from a man injured in a fatal car crash. Wubbels refused to allow the blood draw without a warrant. Widely circulated body camera footage shows Payne forcibly arresting Wubbels as she screamed for help.

Two investigations by Internal Affairs and the Civilian Review Board concluded Payne and his supervisor, Lt. James Tracy, violated police department policies.

The mayor’s spokesman, Matthew Rojas, said Mayor Biskupski stands by her statement that the officer’s actions were unacceptable. 

Whittney Evans grew up southern Ohio and has worked in public radio since 2005. She has a communications degree from Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, where she learned the ropes of reporting, producing and hosting. Whittney moved to Utah in 2009 where she became a reporter, producer and morning host at KCPW. Her reporting ranges from the hyper-local issues affecting Salt Lake City residents, to state-wide issues of national interest. Outside of work, she enjoys playing the guitar and getting to know the breathtaking landscape of the Mountain West.
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