() — Gabby Petito’s parents filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against the City of Moab Police Departmentarguing that its agents were negligent in their interactions with the 22-year-old and her fiancé Brian Laundrie two weeks before her death last year.
“The purpose of this lawsuit is to honor Gabby’s legacy by demanding accountability and working toward systemic changes that protect victims of abuse and domestic violence, and prevent similar tragedies in the future,” attorney James W. McConkie said in a statement. release.
The lawsuit accuses the department and its agents of breaking the law and failing to protect Petito during an investigation into a domestic incident in August, just weeks before Laundrie took his life. The lawsuit claims that the officers incorrectly determined that Petito was the primary aggressor in the interaction and incorrectly applied Utah laws related to domestic abuse. He also accuses the police department of not having adequately trained its officers on these issues.
At a news conference Thursday, Petito’s parents said they filed the lawsuit to make sure police make these changes to help other victims of abuse.
“There’s no one here, none of the four of us, who wants to be here. We’d give them up in a second if she could come back,” said her father, Joseph Petito.
“We feel like we have to do justice because she could have been protected that day,” said Nichole Schmidt, her mother. “There are laws in place to protect victims, and those laws were not enforced, and we don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” she added.
Gabby Petito’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Utah state court against the City of Moab Police Department. Credit: KUTV
The city of Moab released a statement Thursday denying responsibility for Petito’s death and saying it would defend itself against the lawsuit.
“The death of Gabrielle Petito in Wyoming is a terrible tragedy, and we feel deep sympathy for the Petito and Schmidt families and the painful loss they have suffered. At the same time, it is clear that officers with the City of Moab Police Department are not responsible for the eventual murder of Gabrielle Petito,” the city said.
The city said its agents “acted with kindness, respect and empathy toward Ms. Petito” during their interaction.
“Lawyers for the Petito family seem to suggest that our agents could somehow tell the future based on this one interaction. In reality, on August 12, no one could have anticipated the tragedy that would occur weeks later and hundreds of miles away.” distance, and the city of Moab will fiercely defend against this lawsuit,” the city said.
Petito was 22 when she and her fiancé, Laundrie, 23, embarked on a road trip across the western US last summer, documenting their #VanLife experiences in idyllic online posts.
Despite what they showed on the networks, their relationship was unstable and sometimes violent. Petito’s disappearance was reported after Laundrie returned to her parents’ home in Florida on September 1 and Petito’s family were unable to contact her, setting off a nationwide search that turned into a fascination for online detectives.
His body was found several weeks later in the Grand Teton National Forest, and a coroner ruled that he had died of strangulation. Later, Laundrie disappeared in a Florida nature reserve, and her body was found in mid-October along with a notebook in which she admitted to killing her.
In August, Petito’s parents filed a notice of lawsuit against the police department, the first step in starting a lawsuit. Her parents have also taken legal action against Laundrie’s estate and have filed a lawsuit against his parents, accusing them of causing emotional distress by failing to act during the search for Petito.
What happened in Moab?
The 35-page lawsuit filed Thursday is based on the August 2021 traffic stop after officers received a report that a witness “had seen Brian assault Gabby.”
Police stopped his vehicle, a white Ford van, after it exceeded the speed limit, swerved out of its lane and hit a curb, according to a police report.
Police body-worn camera footage shows Moab, Utah, officers talking to Petito and Laundrie, who admitted to having a fight in which Petito said he punched her fiancé first. Officers noticed that Petito had cuts on her face and arm, and she “demonstrated how Brian had violently grabbed her face during her altercation,” telling police that Laundrie “gets very frustrated.” with me”.
But Petito also “exhibited the classic characteristics of a battered couple,” the lawsuit notice said, when he took the blame for the incident with Brian. Agents “did not press further,” the notice says.
According to the family’s resource, a photo taken at the time, which has not been made public, “shows a close-up of Gabby’s face in which there are blood stains on her cheek and left eye, revealing the violent nature of Brian’s attack”.
Laundrie told police the couple had been under increasing stress. She admitted to pushing Petito when she tried to slap him and taking his phone away, claiming that he didn’t have one, and that he was afraid she would leave him. However, later in the interview, she pulled out her own phone and gave her agents her number, the lawsuit says.
Despite the cuts and Laundrie’s inconsistencies, one of the officers said Petito should be booked into jail because, under Utah domestic violence statutes, she was considered the primary aggressor and Laundrie the victim.
Both Petito and Laundrie objected, and the officers eventually agreed not to press charges against Petito if she and Laundrie agreed to spend the night apart.
An independent investigator, a captain with the Price, Utah, police department, about 115 miles away, reviewed the Moab Police Department’s handling of the incident and recommended that the two responding officers be placed on probation. stating that they made “several unintentional mistakes”, specifically not citing anyone for domestic violence, even though there only seemed to be enough evidence to charge Petito.
The investigative report, released in January, recommended new policies for the department, including additional domestic violence training and legal education for officers.
At the time, the city did not address any potential disciplinary action for the two officers, but said it “intends to implement the report’s recommendations” on new policies for the police department, including additional domestic violence training and training. agent legality.
— Hannah Sarisohn, Dakin Andone and Chuck Johnston contributed reporting.
