SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah nurse said she was scared to death when a police officer handcuffed and dragged her screaming from a hospital after she refused to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient.

Alex Wubbels said Friday that the videotaped arrest, which has drawn attention amid a national conversation about police use of force, shows that bullying does not just happen in schools.

In this July 26 frame grab from a police body camera, nurse Alex Wubbels is handcuffed by a Salt Lake City police officer at University Hospital in Salt Lake City. Associated Press/Salt Lake City Police Department, Courtesy of Karra Porter

Nurse Alex Wubbels, right, looks on during an interview while her attorney Karra Porter looks on, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Salt Lake City. Wubbels followed hospital policy and advice from her bosses when she told Salt Lake City police Detective Jeff Payne that he could not get a blood sample without a warrant or consent from the patient, according to Porter. The police department is making changes after Payne dragged a screaming Wubbels out of the hospital in handcuffs when she refused to allow blood to be drawn from the unconscious patient. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

“This cop bullied me. He bullied me to the utmost extreme,” Wubbels said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And nobody stood in his way.”

A Utah prosecutor called for a criminal investigation. The Salt Lake City police chief and mayor apologized and changed department policies in line with the guidance Wubbels was following in the July 26 incident.

She said she adhered to her training and hospital protocols to protect the rights of a patient who could not speak for himself.

“You can’t just take blood if you don’t have a legitimate concern for something to be tested,” Wubbels said. “It is the most personal property I think that we can have besides our skin and bones and organs.”

Salt Lake City police Detective Jeff Payne has been suspended from the department’s blood-draw unit, but remains on duty as a detective during reviews by police and a civilian board. He did not return messages.

“I was alarmed by what I saw in the video with our officer,” Police Chief Mike Brown said.

Police body-camera video shows Wubbels, who works in the burn unit, calmly explaining that she could not take blood from a patient who had been injured in a car accident, citing a recent change in law. A 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling said a blood sample cannot be taken without patient consent or a warrant.

Wubbels told Payne that a patient had to allow a blood sample to determine intoxication or be under arrest. Otherwise, she said police needed a warrant. Payne insisted.

The dispute ended with Payne saying, “We’re done, you’re under arrest” and pulling her outside while she screamed and said, “I’ve done nothing wrong!”

He had called his supervisor and discussed the time-sensitive blood draw for over an hour with hospital staff, a police spokeswoman said.

“It’s not an excuse. It definitely doesn’t forgive what happened,” she said.

The detective left Wubbels in a police car for 20 minutes before realizing that blood had already been drawn as part of treatment. Wubbels was not charged.

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