In September, a terrifying video surfaced of a nurse in Utah being dragged out of a hospital for refusing to break the law and allow a police officer to take a patient's blood while they were unconscious.
The nurse, Alex Wubbles, can be seen in the video reading the hospital's policy on the rights of patients before the officer suddenly grabs Wubbles and pulls her outside before arresting her. The officer in the video was Detective Jeff Payne, who had no legal right to take the blood sample and acknowledges it in the video that was released.
Questions remain about why Detective Payne was trying to request the sample, and why he became violent when his request was denied. The patient was an off-duty officer from Idaho who was involved in a collision by a suspect fleeing police in a pick-up truck. He has since passed away from his injuries.
Detective Payne, who had a history of sexual harassment, has since been fired from his position.
Now, it seems Wubbels will be receiving her form of justice.
After the arrest, nurse Alex Wubbels decided to sue the city and the university that owns the hospital for damages. The video that was released of the incident was used as evidence in the courtroom.
"No matter how truthful I was in telling my story, it was nothing compared to what people saw and the visceral reaction people experienced when watching the footage of the experience that I went through." said Wubbels.
The city and university reached a settlement with Wubbels of a total of $500,000 for the unlawful arrest she endured while performing her duties. She has since avowed that a portion of the money will go towards helping people seeking access to body-cam footage for their court cases.
"The police have to police themselves," she said. "This is something I never would have expected to happen, but I'm also honored by the weight of it."