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The family of Gabby Petito has filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against police in Moab, Utah, claiming officers did not adequately investigate her case as a domestic violence incident prior to her murder at the hands of her fiancé last year.
The lawsuit accuses police officers of not following the law and of failing to protect Petito when they stopped Petito with her fiancé Brian Laundrie to investigate reports of a domestic disturbance outside a shop in Moab, Utah, in Aug. 2021. The suit further claims officers misidentified Petito as the aggressor in the interaction and did not correctly apply the state’s law related to domestic violence. The couple were on a cross-country road trip in their van at the time. Laundrie is believed to have strangled Petito to death soon two weeks after the incident.
“The purpose of this lawsuit is to honor Gabby’s legacy by demanding accountability and working toward systemic changes to protect victims of domestic abuse and violence and prevent such tragedies in the future,” James W. McConkie, an attorney for the Petito family said in a statement Thursday.
The City of Moab issued a statement Thursday after the suit was filed expressing sympathy for Petito’s family but saying the police were not responsible for her murder.“The death of Gabrielle Petito in Wyoming is a terrible tragedy, and we feel profound sympathy for the Petito and Schmidt families and the painful loss they have endured. At the same time, it is clear that Moab City Police Department officers are not responsible for Gabrielle Petito’s eventual murder,” the statement said. “The attorneys for the Petito family seem to suggest that somehow our officers could see into the future based on this single interaction. In truth, on Aug. 12, no one could have predicted the tragedy that would occur weeks later and hundreds of miles away, and the City of Moab will ardently defend against this lawsuit.” The Moab Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit was originally announced in August, as NBC News reported at the time, with lawyers for Petito’s family filing a notice of intent, which is required before suing government entities. The notice listed the Moab City Police Department, its then-Chief Bret Edge, ex-Assistant Chief Braydon Palmer, and officers Eric Pratt and Daniel Robbins as defendants.
The Moab City Police Department did not return Rolling Stone’s request for comment at the time. An official for the City of Moab said it would not “comment on pending litigation.” Lawyers for Petito’s family did not return a request for comment.
The lawsuit centers around an Aug. 12, 2021, encounter between Moab police, Petito, and Laundrie. Bodycam footage showed Petito sobbing in the back of a squad car and telling police she’d slapped Laundrie in an argument because he wouldn’t let her back inside the van they were using on a road trip through several National Parks. Petito and Laundrie ultimately decided not to press charges against each other, and cops separated them for the night.
Weeks after Petito’s remains were found near a Wyoming campground on Sept. 19, an extended version of the bodycam video was released. In it, one officer asked Petito about bruises on her arms and face, and asked if Laundrie had hit her. She said Laundrie had hurt her when he grabbed her face, but blamed herself for instigating the altercation by saying she hit him first. Laundrie later confessed to killing Petito in writing before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The video led to increased discussion about the warning signs of domestic violence, and an official Moab Police Department review of the case, completed back in January, backed up claims that officers had not sufficiently investigated the situation between Petito and Laundrie. The review found that the cops had misclassified the incident, with one officer writing in a report that it was “more accurately categorized as a mental/emotional health ‘break’ than a domestic assault.”
When the lawsuit was announced in August, lawyers for Petito’s family argued that had the police been properly trained, they would’ve known “Gabby was a victim of intimate partner violence” and required “immediate protection.” At a press conference in Salt Lake City, Utah Monday, Aug. 8, a lawyer for Petito’s family, James McConkie, added, “Gabby’s parents are bringing this lawsuit to honor Gabby’s legacy by working to save the lives of victims of domestic violence throughout the United States and the world… They hope their efforts to help will save lives and give meaning to the senseless, avoidable and tragic murder of their daughter.”
This story was updated on 11/3 at 3:25 pm with the news that Petito’s family had filed their lawsuit against Moab Police
