The lawyer for Gabby Petito’s family says that a selfie she took a few weeks before she died shows that she had facial injuries on the day she and her fiance Brian Laundrie were stopped by police on their way to a domestic disturbance call.
A law firm that works for the Petito family put out the photo on Monday. In November, the family filed a lawsuit against the Moab City Police Department in Utah district court. In the suit, they talked about the picture.
Family lawyer Brian Stewart says the photo, which was found on Petito’s phone, was taken in the back of her van on August 12, the same day Moab police stopped the couple as they were driving through Utah.
In the selfie, Petito’s left cheek is cut, and what looks like blood is smeared over her eyelid, under her eye, and up her nose bridge. She looks like she is wearing the same thing.
Moab police officers talked to Petito and Laundrie during that stop. They both admitted to having a fight, and Petito said she hit her fiancé first. When officers saw that Petito had wounds,on her face and arm, and she “showed how violently Brian had grabbed her face during their fight,” telling the police, “Laundrie gets very angry with me.
About a month after that, Petito’s body was found in a national park in Wyoming. Her death was ruled a murder because someone strangled her.
She and Laundrie were driving across the country in a van that summer, and Petito was writing about a happy, exciting road trip.on social media sites. But even though the couple seemed happy online, things between them seemed to be getting worse behind the scenes.
In September, Petito’s family reported that she was missing. This started a search across the country and brought a lot of attention to the case. Laundrie went looking for Petito while the police were looking for him.missing.
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The FBI said that his body and a notebook were found in a Florida nature reserve at the end of October. In the notebook, he wrote that he killed Petito. It was decided that he killed himself.
The family’s lawsuit against the Moab City Police Department and the officers involved in the traffic stop says that the department was careless in how it hired and trained officers and that the officers were trying to kill Petito, the FBI said. It was decided that he killed himself.The way they handled the report of domestic violence was careless, which led to Gabby’s death.
Stewart said that the picture shows that Gabby was held over her face in a way that made it likely that her airways were blocked. Gabby took a picture of the injury and tried to explain what happened during the stop.Moab cops, on the other hand, utterly overlooked the gravity and importance of this sort of attack and injuries.
According to Stewart, according to Utah’s Criminal Code, obstructing the airway of another person is considered severe assault; nevertheless, the cops “ignored” this fact.
Tuesday, we attempted to get response from the Moab City Police Department; however, we were informed that the city “does not comment on things pertaining to pending litigation.”
