One Degree wrote:The cop was supposedly a specialist in this type of thing. I think he was more pissed at someone on the phone telling him what he should do, but the nurse was handy. He no doubt was out of line, but so is making this a national debate on anything. He got mad and overreacted, but some frustration was understandable. He needed the blood, if the patient was conscious then he would have gotten it. The patient would have agreed or the cop would have arrested him and taken it anyway. His being unconscious turned a routine task into a real irritation. I would hazard a guess that it was probably routine for him to obtain blood samples from the unconscious even though technically he may not have been allowed to do so. This nurse did what she thought was right, but I doubt it was the norm the cop expected.
Stuff happens when tempers flare. Nothing more to see here.
I couldn't disagree more vehemently. There is absolutely no excuse for any armed officer of the law to indulge in a fit of temper, particularly with a citizen who was behaving calmly and reasonably (up until the time of his voluntary escalation). She clearly was
not an idiot, and cops have no authority to use force against citizens, to intimidate them into ignoring court orders (to which they agreed
in writing). Her mistake was in assuming the cop would behave professionally, and go through proper channels. What would her civil liability have been had she ignored her professional obligations?
Citizens have a right to demand professional and rational behavior from officers of the law. They have a right, and a moral obligation, not to blithely cave in to intimidation from officers that consider themselves a law unto themselves. His irritation is grounds for nothing at all.
The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters. -Antonio Gramsci