As regular readers know, I’ve been forecasting either a substantial settlement or a lawsuit in the Wubbels case, as I noted in Bloodletting 5:
Expect resolution from the SLCPD side of this case sooner rather than later. I also expect Salt Lake City to come to a substantial, and undisclosed, settlement with Alex Wubbels sooner rather than later. In fact, I’d be surprised if those negotiations are not already underway. The City has essentially rolled over on its back, exposing its belly and begged Wubbels not to hurt it too badly.
The Bloodletting case archive is here. It appears I was correct on both counts:
University Hospital nurse Alex Wubbels has agreed to a $500,000 payment to settle a dispute over her arrest by a Salt Lake City police officer after she barred him from drawing blood from an unconscious patient, her attorney said Tuesday.
Attorney Karra Porter said at a news conference that the agreement with Salt Lake City and the University of Utah covers all parties and takes the possibility of legal action off the table. ‘There will be no lawsuit,’ she said.
This is a relatively low, but not unjust, amount. I suspect Wubbels was willing to settle for this because she is not trying to cash in on this situation, but recognizes government is normally motivated to change only upon the infliction of at least some pain.
Police Chief Mike Brown fired [Jeff] Payne on Oct. 10 and demoted [James] Tracy to the rank of officer. Both men have appealed the punishment to the Salt Lake City Civil Service Commission.
Wubbels said Tuesday she hopes the disciplinary measures are upheld. ‘I will be very disappointed if they aren’t, she said.
As I’ve also noted, Tracy’s demotion may be modified to at least some degree, though Payne’s termination may not. KSL.com adds detail:
…Alex Wubbels announced Tuesday afternoon [10-31-17] that she will use part of that money to launch a new initiative to make body camera video more accessible to all residents in Utah involved in a police incident.
‘I am not in the business of setting anyone up for failure. I want us to be successful in moving forward. And I think this is a small step we can provide to enable that potential success if we are going to start asking the police departments to have body cameras,’ Wubbels said outside the Salt Lake City Police Department while standing next to her attorney, Karra Porter.
The nurse added ‘it’s shocking’ that today’s police forces don’t all have body cameras.
‘We all deserve to know the truth. And the truth comes when you see the actual raw footage. And that’s what happened in my case. 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,’ she said.
It’s not certain how the $500,000 dollars will be disbursed. Attorneys normally take 1/3 of settlements, and I’m not finding any particular information about that. Will Wubbels net the full amount with Porter also being paid a full third?
Matthew Rojas, spokesman for Salt Lake Mayor Jackie Biskupski, said both the city and the university agreed to pay $250,000 each.
‘Salt Lake City has been focused first and foremost on ensuring policies and procedures are changed so things like this don’t happen again, and we are glad we could come to a resolution with nurse Wubbles,’ he said.
Since Wubbels went public with the arrest video, Porter said her client has had several goals, including changes to policy on how police interact with nurses; accountability by the officers involved; starting a public discussion on the importance of body camera video; compensation; and helping others.
Wubbels is working with the American Nurses Association on a campaign to prevent what happened to her from happening elsewhere. She also would like to speak before the Utah Legislature during the next session about the importance of making body cameras mandatory for all police agencies. And she and Porter want to help all Utahns have access to body camera video for their own cases.
‘Thanks to Alex, there will be more transparency as body cam footage becomes more readily available in Utah,’ Porter said.
Wubbels added:
I literally park where this incident happened. I walk, in the dark, every night to my work, back and forth to my car where this incident happened,’ Wubbels said, adding the police ‘did a really good thing today. And that’s a highlight for what comes out when good cops do good work.
A press conference Video with Porter and Wubbels is available here.
Final Thoughts:
Throughout this process, Alex Wubbels has remained, for the most part, prudently silent, and has not, as is common in such cases, shown herself to be a blindly partisan, money grubbing opportunist. She appears genuinely concerned about necessary change and is unlikely to find herself on Dancing With The Stars.
The aftermath of the case, however, is far from played out. The appeals of Payne and Tracy will be heard in the near future, and a criminal investigation, local and federal, is ongoing. As I’ve previously noted, charges are—or should be—unlikely. Payne, and to a lesser degree, Tracy, made mistakes, but no one died, and every issue either has been successfully addressed, or will be addressed in short order. In the universe of police mistakes, this is not in the top ten. Payne was indeed badge heavy, and acted in anger, but may not be seen to have been overtly malicious, and has paid a significant price for his error, losing the entirety of his employment and becoming a social pariah, perhaps unemployable in emergency medicine and police work. That may be enough.
I’ll have more on the upcoming appeals by Payne and Tracy next week.
Stately McDaniel Manor 
Nicely put together. Thanks.
Dear Utah Chris:
Thanks, and thanks for your assistance.
I wish that I had body camerra footage from the imbecile Yamhill County Sheriff’s Deputy who refused to even talk to me about the unlicensed, unregulated and therefore illegal (aside from violating Federal law) that a tenant had installed in my rental property without my knowledge or consent. My prolonged and so far unsuccessful efforts to evict these vermin escalated to an incident in which the psychopathic pot plantationist fired two rounds from a 12 gauge shotgun at my son and his friend. One projectile which we believe was a slug fired from a range of about 100 yards impacted only a dozen feet away from the boys. Our tennants were given a pass by Judge Ladd Wiles (aka Amanda Marshall’s cuckold).
I now dispise not just the Government of Oregon and the government of Yamhill County but the citizens of Yamhill County.
I want to see both Payne & Tracy forever barred from any type of Law Enforcement employment. This ‘Badge Heavy” mindset has to be stopped dead in it’s tracks. It has gotten to be an epidemic in L.E. from the things I read and hear about. AS for Payne, if he is a good EMT, I suspect he will be a much more diligent one from now on. I see no reason, he cannot still do that work. I don’t wish to see these men destroyed. I just want to be sure that they stand out a great example of “What NOT to Do”.
I am neither a defense attorney nor a prosecutor, but the video documents a crime of assault and battery. Unless the point is made via criminal prosecution, the Salt Lake City DA is effectively sanctioning Payne’s behavior and actions.
Dear John:
Theoretically, a false arrest is an assault, but it’s a tricky issue. Officers must be able to make good faith mistakes without worrying about being prosecuted by those with as much time as they need to analyze things after the fact. Payne apparently believed he had cause to arrest Wubbels, and was even encouraged in that belief by a higher ranking officer. He later turned out to be wrong, and repented, releasing Wubbels.
Any rational prosecutor must weigh the facts of this case against the very real chilling effect a prosecution would have on all police officers.
Mike,
Have you read Payne’s termination letter?
https://www.scribd.com/document/361254401/Jeff-Payne-Notice-of-Decision-Redacted
Payne had spoken to the Logan police department and they had told him they didn’t have probable cause for an arrest of the truck driver before he arrested Wubbels. He also didn’t tell Tracy that he had talked with Logan PD and they didn’t care if they got a blood sample or not because they could get one later.
Dear Sentenza:
Indeed I have, and posted excerpts from it, and Tracy’s letter, in Bloodletting 6.
Thank you for the reply, Mike–the DA decision makes more sense in that light.
Dear John:
You’re welcome.
The root of this problem was the Logan and Salt Lake City police department’s motivation for the blood draw. The video of the horrific accident documents that the truck driver was in no way at fault. Aside from the fleeing suspect, the only parties that might be culpable depending on the circumstances of the pursuit are the police. Payne was dispatched to the ER to obtain a blood sample in an attempt to collect some evidence that could impune the truck driver in the event of a law suit.
How much you bet that the truck driver’s family will file suit and the attornies for the police will cite the failure to obtain a blood sample as evidence of impairment that would mitigate liability?
James,
According to the Payne’s termination letter, the Logan police department wasn’t upset by Payne’s inability to obtain a blood sample and had requested Payne obtain a release form in order for them to obtain the truck driver’s medical records at a later time because the hospital had already conducted a blood draw.
Logan PD had also already told Payne that there did not exist probable cause for a warrant in order to obtain a blood draw. It’s a fairly logical inference that if Logan PD didn’t have probable cause to support the issuance of a warrant, they didn’t have probable cause to support an arrest.
Prior to arresting Wubbels, Payne had talked to Logan PD and they’d told him all of that. He didn’t inform Tracy about any of that until he’d arrested Wubbels.
Dear Angel Eyes (the bad):
Indeed. This may be helpful to Tracy in his appeal.
You can find that information on pages 4 and 13 of Payne’s termination letter.
Mike,
I had a brain hiccup for a minute. (Angel Eyes is me, too, but I used a different computer.)
Rereading that letter, I had another thought, too. I wonder of Payne put his paramedic license in jeopardy by his comment because it sounds that he’s threatening to transport patients to hospitals where they wouldn’t receive the best care.
Dear Sentenza:
I haven’t heard of any action by a state EMT licensing board, but that’s certainly possible. His foolish comment will certainly make him radioactive in that field.