Police unrest Unruly NUrse for Refusing to Comply With Order

If she was black he wouldn't have dared put his hands on her. Good thing for him she was white not a protected class.

Time for BIG changes in American policing. The 'do as I say or you're going to the ground' mentality is garbage in 2020. Too many instances of this kind of overly aggressive interaction are being caught on video and policing must change systemically.

You'll notice too that it appeared as if the arresting officer's main goal wasn't merely to apprehend the nurse, in her professional space, but to drag her away from other people and that camera as quickly as possible. Bad mojo.

Time for massive changes in this country.

As a lawyer, the concept of resisting an unlawful arrest has always interested me. I have little to no idea, I do not practice criminal law.

Similarly, the concept of someone making a citizen’s arrest of a peace officer on reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct such as assault and battery, and potentially of threatening and of course worst of all, of negligent homicide, manslaughter or murder.

Applicable law would vary by jurisdiction. Any lawyers on here have anything to illuminate the issue?

This isn’t current. Seems like it happened 2+ years ago.

Good news, she was awarded $500,000 for this. The arresting officer was fired and his supervisor was demoted.

Outside of a few specific circumstances (e.g. an unconscious patient needs care that cannot reasonably be delayed without risk of disability or death), performing any kind of medical test, examination, or procedure on someone who does not consent constitutes assault. These cops are literally telling this nurse "go assault an unconscious person or we will arrest you."

But still happened. An on video.

Elvin wrote:

Outside of a few specific circumstances (e.g. an unconscious patient needs care that cannot reasonably be delayed without risk of disability or death), performing any kind of medical test, examination, or procedure on someone who does not consent constitutes assault. These cops are literally telling this nurse "go assault an unconscious person or we will arrest you."

It’s not quite that simple, and it’s battery in most places, not assault. The offense you are describing is “counseling another to commit a crime”, and it has its nuances.

law and order wrote:

If people would just always do what the police say, everything would be okay. She's lucky the cop did not shoot her.

Sir/Ma'am:

It appears that you are incorrect about this.

1) The nurse was operating under (presumably legal) policy that patient samples are not to be given without either patient consent or a lawful warrant from a judge.

2) See HIPAA law. This is a well-known federal legislation that protects patient medical privacy.

3) A law enforcement officer may not conduct unreasonable search and seizure; that is, without a search warrant and/or without probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime is present. In this matter, the courts will have to decide whether there was sufficient probable cause for the police officers to completely override both HIPAA law and the lack of a search warrant.

4) Police officers are NOT authority figures who must be blindly obeyed. They are government employees, paid by the taxes of the citizens, charged with the difficult job of enforcing the law. In situations where the officer is clearly wrong, citizens may choose to question the officer or to refuse to comply.

5) Police officers MAY NOT shoot a citizen for simply failing to obey an order. This is illegal.

6) It would be a violation of local law, state law, federal law, and the U.S. Constitution for an employee of the government to conduct an extrajudicial killing.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

It’s not quite that simple, and it’s battery in most places, not assault. The offense you are describing is “counseling another to commit a crime”, and it has its nuances.

You are putting words in my mouth. My claim is that the nurse would have committed a crime if she had complied with the officer's request. Whether his actions constitute "counseling another to commit a crime" is not something that I commented on.

Do you disagree that the nurse would have been breaking the law if she had performed a medically unnecessary blood draw without consent in this situation?

We are talking about the same thing. The offense I mentioned would be committed by the officer, not the nurse.

As to the nurse’s potential exposure to criminal liability, that depends on a great many things, including the specific law including lawful excuse, her specific acts, the mens rea requirement, etc. I never offer opinions on situations without knowing all the facts and the law, no lawyer should.