The Utah nurse who was forcefully arrested in a hospital just won a huge settlement
This is some good news! Remember the nurse in Utah who was arrested in July when she wouldn’t give police a blood sample from an unconscious patient? Well, she’s about to receive a hefty sum of cash. Alex Wubbels will get $500,000 from a settlement, according to Time, and the money will reportedly come both from Salt Lake City itself and the University of Utah. Karra Porter, Wubbels’ lawyer, confirmed the amount to CNN.
Wubbels ultimately believes that viral body camera footage of the incident likely contributed to the favorable outcome.
The video, as described by CNN, depicts Wubbels’ forceful arrest while she was at work in the hospital. The publication reports that the officer responsible was let go by the Salt Lake City police department as a result of the incident.
"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 I went through," Wubbels said about the news of her settlement, according to Time.
A Utah nurse who was arrested for protecting her patient gets a $500,000 settlement https://t.co/J77o5FRvBy pic.twitter.com/GTMcgzLPvR
— CNN (@CNN) November 1, 2017
Some people believe she should have been awarded even more money.
This is still low in my opinion. Forcefully and wrongfully arrested nurse doing her job should be the headline https://t.co/kas5CP9SSR
— Guardians of the Naylor (@DFluckesFans) November 1, 2017
Others are happy to see this resolved in her favor.
Nurse settles for 500 thousand for being falsely arrested at Utah hospital … about time!!! pic.twitter.com/gWVHTUFu2M
— Rogelio Garcia Lawyer (@LawyerRogelio) November 1, 2017
Still others have used this incident to highlight the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement.
#BLM bc an entire country is outraged over a nurse being wrongfully arrested, but y'all are silent when black men are murdered in the street
— champagne socialist (@oldkmart) September 2, 2017
It’s good to see Wubbels get some form of justice, but it’s important to remember that for many, the outcome is quite different.
According to Time, Wubbels has a plan for the settlement money — she is going to put some of it toward “a nurse’s union [that will] help lead a campaign to stop physical and verbal abuse of nurses on the job.” Another sum will go toward helping to “fund legal help for others trying to get similar body-camera video.”
