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Blood Testing Bill Prompted By Wubbels Video Advances

SLPD Body Camera Footage

A bill that requires law enforcement officers to present a warrant before requesting blood testing was approved by a legislative committee Wednesday.

The bill was prompted by the incident involving AlexWubbels, a nurse at the University of Utah hospital, back in July. A video recorded that day showed police detective Jeff Payne arresting Wubbels when she refused to draw blood from a patient.

The uproar that followed the video led to Payne losing his job, a $500,000 settlement with Wubbels and now a potential law that more clearly requires officers to show a warrant.

 

"That way we avoid hopefully what we watched on tape at the University of Utah," says Rep. Lowry Snow (R-St. George).

 

Snow supports the bill but expressed some concern that there still isn’t enough protection for medical providers, whose primary job is to care for patients, and don’t have training to tell whether a warrant is valid or not.

 

The bill’s sponsor, Rep Craig Hall (R-West Valley), says future legislation will have to tackle details like that, but for now requiring a warrant is the right first step.

 

Lee Hale began listening to KUER while he was teaching English at a Middle School in West Jordan (his one hour commute made for plenty of listening time). Inspired by what he heard he applied for the Kroc Fellowship at NPR headquarters in DC and to his surprise, he got it. Since then he has reported on topics ranging from TSA PreCheck to micro apartments in overcrowded cities to the various ways zoo animals stay cool in the summer heat. But, his primary focus has always been education and he returns to Utah to cover the same schools he was teaching in not long ago. Lee is a graduate of Brigham Young University and is also fascinated with the way religion intersects with the culture and communities of the Beehive State. He hopes to tell stories that accurately reflect the beliefs that Utahns hold dear.
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