Gabby Petito’s Family to File $50 Million Wrongful Death Claim Against Moab Police

Gabby Petito’s parents are filing a $50 million wrongful death claim against the Moab Police Department, alleging officers failed in handling a call involving the young woman.

Fox News reported Monday:

The family alleges that Moab officers Eric Pratt and Daniel Robbins failed to properly handle a 911 call in which a witness claimed he saw Brian Laundrie hitting Petito and trying to steal her phone and drive off without her in the middle of downtown Moab.

Fox News Digital was first to report the Aug. 12, 2021, domestic 911 call last year. Roughly two weeks after Moab police pulled over the couple in the entranceway to Arches National Park, Laundrie is believed to have bludgeoned Petito and strangled her to death at a Bridger-Teton National Forest campground in Wyoming, where they’d traveled as part of their cross-country van-life road trip.

In September, the Moab Police Department released video footage of officers talking with Petito and Laundrie as they were parked on the side of the road.

One of the officers eventually separated the pair to interview them:

According to Brian Stewart, a lawyer for the family, a photo of Petito taken during the incident showed blood on her cheek and eye which revealed how violently she had been attacked.

At the time, Robbins was a fairly new officer and seemed reluctant to charge Petito, reportedly deeming her the aggressor in the situation, the Fox report continued:

Officer Pratt called Assistant Chief Palmer to seek assistance on how to handle the situation. … Chief Palmer instructed Officer Pratt to carefully read the assault statute and decide whether the situation satisfied the statute. Officer Pratt Googled the statute. After reading only the first half of the statute, Officer Pratt decided — incorrectly — that Utah law only recognizes assault if the perpetrator intended to cause bodily injury.

Meanwhile, an independent investigation said mistakes were made and did not rule out that the young woman’s murder might have been prevented had the officers performed their duties correctly, per the filing.

Following interviews with Petito, Laundrie, and a witness, officers decided the incident was a “mental health break.”

In March, Petito’s parents filed a lawsuit against Laundrie’s parents, alleging they knew he killed the young woman.

“Laundrie died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, a lawyer for his family said in November,” according to Breitbart News.

He was being sought in Petito’s disappearance and death when authorities found his remains in a nature reserve near his parents’ home in Florida.

“In January, authorities revealed they had found a notebook near Laundrie’s remains in which he confessed to killing the young woman,” the outlet said.