Police, city defend officers’ actions in viral search of terminal cancer patient’s hospital room

Bolivar, Missouri police and the city itself are on the defensive after a video showing police officers searching the hospital room of a terminal cancer patient has gone viral.

Both institutions are speaking out in support of their officers’ actions on the call.

“We believe the city’s police officers did their job the way they were supposed to do it,” said Bolivar city attorney Donald Brown.

Bolivar police chief Mark Webb also supported the officers, saying that they received consent to search the hospital room.

 

 

Police arrived at stage 4 pancreatic cancer patient Nolan Sousley’s room last Wednesday evening at Citizen’s Memorial Hospital after a call from a security guard who claimed that four hospital staff members has reported the smell of cannabis emanating from Sousley’s room.

Sousley explained to the officers that he took some THC pills in the hospital parking lot, was not in possession of flower or any cannabis product that would give off a distinguishable odour.

The officers proceeded to search Sousley’s bags and belongings, as shown in a Facebook Live stream that has since been viewed more than half a million times on Facebook alone and sparked international outrage.

The officers ask to look through another bag, but Sousley refuses, saying that it’s his “last hour” bag. He says in a second video that he later allowed one of the officers to search the bag, once everyone else had cleared the room.

Missouri has legalized medical cannabis, but the law does not come into effect until later this year. Until then, it remains illegal.

 

 

Citizen’s Memorial Hospital says it is investigating the incident, but admits it could have made better choices relating to the handling of the incident.

“We are still completing our investigation. We’ve interviewed several staff members and four CMH employees smelled the odor of what was thought to be marijuana. Smoking or vaping any substances are prohibited at the hospital for many reasons one of which is it can harm other patients with respiratory illnesses,” the hospital said in a statement to Springfield’s KY3.

It continued, “Pursuant to protocol the nursing staff called security to investigate the odor. Unfortunately, the security guard had no knowledge of the patient’s condition. In hindsight we could have communicated better with security and attempted to handle the situation internally.”

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