This Monday (8), the family of Gabby Petito influencer who was killed by her fiancé Brian Laundrie in 2021 filed a murder lawsuit against the Moab City Police Department in Utah, USA.
According to NBC, the girl’s parents are demanding $50 million in damages. In a statement released by the US broadcaster, one of the family’s lawyers said officers did not properly investigate an incident involving Petito and Laundrie the month before the murders. They also pointed out that the YouTuber would be alive if the agents had been properly trained to handle domestic violence situations.
“The Moab Police Department has been plagued by high turnover, lack of leadership and mismanagement for years,” said James McConkie. “The ministry has failed in its duty to provide its officials with the training and resources they need to do their jobs, which is an institutional failure,” the lawyer added.
The legal team has filed a letter of intent, a process required in the United States before action is taken against government agencies. The document names the City of Moab Police Department, thenPolice Commissioner Bret Edge, former Deputy Commissioner Braydon Palmer, and officers Eric Pratt and Daniel Robbins, all of whom were involved in answering the 911 call, as the accused.
In video captured by agent Eric Pratt’s body camera, it’s possible to verify details of what would have caused witnesses to call 911 about a public fight between Brian and Gabby. (Photo: Reproduction/Moab Police Department)
case review
In January this year, months after Petito’s death, an independent law enforcement agency found that officers had made a series of “unintentional mistakes” when responding to a domestic violence report involving Petito and Laundrie. “Errors were made in the handling of this case. If this case had been handled impeccably, would anything have changed? Nobody knows,” said the person responsible for conducting the review, whose identity has not been released.
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Last Wednesday (3), the city of Moab issued a statement reviewing the August 12, 2021 incident that occurred shortly before Petito’s disappearance. At that time, recordings of a body camera of a police officer were published. On the record, Gabby appeared to be crying and complaining about her sanity. According to the Youtuber, the couple had often argued and she would have slapped Brian in an argument.
The document said the errors “are due to the fact that the officers responded to Ms.’s domestic violence petition.” “Just because Gabby was determined to be the aggressor in relation to this particular incident does not mean that she was the predominant longterm aggressor in this relationship,” reads an excerpt from the review.
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At the time, the couple declined to press charges and police recommended they spend the night separately. The groom went to a hotel while the young wife stayed in the van. Weeks after Petito’s remains were found, a new, longer version of the video surfaced. In the pictures, one of the agents asks the influencer about visible bruises on her arms and face. He then asks if Laundrie attacked her. The young woman claimed that the thenfiancé actually hurt her when he grabbed her face, but she blamed herself for instigating the argument and attacking her partner first.
The fallout from the images prompted the Moab Police Department to conduct an investigation that was not completed until January of this year. According to the institution, officers involved in the emergency misclassified the incident and did not thoroughly investigate the seriousness of Gabby and Brian’s relationship. One of the agents described the domestic violence case in the police report as an “emotional crisis.”
Brian Laundrie claimed in a note that he was responsible for Gabby Petito’s death. (Photo: Playback/Instagram)
The family used the results as the basis for the charges in court. The legal team said that with the right training, officers would have been able to identify Gabby as the actual victim of the attacks. At a press conference yesterday (8), McConkie explained the motivation behind the family’s decision. “Gabby’s parents are bringing this lawsuit to honor their daughter’s legacy and save the lives of victims of domestic violence in the United States and around the world. They hope their efforts will make sense of their daughter’s avoidable and tragic murder.”
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