I have a slightly different take on it. Although the cop who made the actual rest was way off base, I think it's his supervisor whose orders that detective was acting under who should have been fired, and the arresting Detective demoted, rather than the other way around as actually happened. No, I was following orders is not a defense, but it is definitely mitigation. If he's acting under the supervisors orders he's caught in a catch-22 where either he's violating the nurses rights, so he obviously didn't need too much encouragement or pressure to do so, and disobeying the orders of a superior officer oh, I could get him fired or demoted.
At the end of the day it was that idiot supervisor who made the order to arrest that nurse. I think the detective is catching the brunt of it because he's the one on camera actually slapping the cuffs on her, though again it's obvious he didn't exactly need his arm Twisted by his boss to do so.
The officer making the arrest appeared to be in full agreement with the directive.
Is this a policy failure by the Police Department, or is this the act of officers who have come to view all of the public as perps or accomplices? The disturbing thing about this affair is that this act was perpetrated upon a law-abiding citizen attempting to abide by law. Violations of HIPPA can, indeed, rise to the criminal level. The arresting officer appeared to have no regard for that; he treated this nurse like a flat-out perp.
