Gabby Petito

[teller80]

Resurrecting this thread to see what you all thought about the $50M lawsuit against the Utah police. Sorry if it's been discussed and I missed it.

 

[Disneylover99]

Resurrecting this thread to see what you all thought about the $50M lawsuit against the Utah police. Sorry if it's been discussed and I missed it.

This doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe my memory is fuzzy about the details. The police separated them for the night, and wasn’t she the aggressor In this situation? What else could the police have done?

 

[teller80]

This doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe my memory is fuzzy about the details. The police separated them for the night, and wasn’t she the aggressor In this situation? What else could the police have done?

I think your memory is very good, and I don't know what else the police could have done. I think the family wants to blame someone and is looking to place blame somewhere, and here we are.

 

[Disneylover99]

I think your memory is very good, and I don't know what else the police could have done. I think the family wants to blame someone and is looking to place blame somewhere, and here we are.

I thought at some point they were trying to sue Bryan’s family, but I guess there is no money in that.

 

[DLgal]

I always find it disgusting when grieving parents file high value lawsuits when there is no hard evidence of wrongdoing.

These police probably just weren't adequately trained in the psychology of domestic violence. It's not always easy to spot a psychopath. It's not something you should be able to sue over.

I'm sorry, but the cops here DID separate these two for the night and Gabby absolutely had an opportunity to get away at that point by calling her parents or simply going to the cops and telling them the truth that Brian was abusing her. She didn't. I understand why. It's tragic. But it's not anyone else's fault.

 

[AnnaS]

The police are not social services or psychiatrist - and even if they had some experience, seems like they did their part - just my opinion from what I have read or seen. I wonder if the parents had any ideas of how the relationship was and if they did, I bet they would not have been able to encourage them not to be together. They have to blame someone. Perhaps they could not get any money from Brian's parents.

So many children/women, have died from neglect/abuse. Is every social worker and teacher going to get sued for missing signs, not doing enough.......

Just thinking out loud. Very sad all around and hard for any parent to live with. Having said that, who knows what I would do if I were in their shoes.

 

[Disneylover99]

The police are not social services or psychiatrist - and even if they had some experience, seems like they did their part - just my opinion from what I have read or seen. I wonder if the parents had any ideas of how the relationship was and if they did, I bet they would not have been able to encourage them not to be together. They have to blame someone. Perhaps they could not get any money from Brian's parents.

So many children/women, have died from neglect/abuse. Is every social worker and teacher going to get sued for missing signs, not doing enough.......

Just thinking out loud. Very sad all around and hard for any parent to live with. Having said that, who knows what I would do if I were in their shoes.

I read that Gabby’s parents didn’t even see any signs of abuse, so it makes no sense to blame the police in this situation. I actually think the police went above and beyond in this case, really talking with them, and separating them for the night like they did.

 

[DisneyOma]

The police are not social services or psychiatrist - and even if they had some experience, seems like they did their part - just my opinion from what I have read or seen. I wonder if the parents had any ideas of how the relationship was and if they did, I bet they would not have been able to encourage them not to be together. They have to blame someone. Perhaps they could not get any money from Brian's parents.

So many children/women, have died from neglect/abuse. Is every social worker and teacher going to get sued for missing signs, not doing enough.......

Just thinking out loud. Very sad all around and hard for any parent to live with. Having said that, who knows what I would do if I were in their shoes.

Not saying the police are in the wrong for this case, but in the USA we've put the police into the position of having to be psychiatrists (and they take classes at the academy, don't they?) and social workers. That's one of the key points of the badly handled "defund the police" movement, isn't it? That we ask too much of our police force and don't do the necessary stuff before it gets to that police level of involvement. And if we say that others in the community are responsible for seeing the signs of abuse, let's add family members to that list.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I understand they're in pain, but their anger is misdirected. The police did nothing wrong--they listened and separated the couple. If anything, the parents should have done more to dissuade Gabby from embarking on the misguided "van life" adventure--she were woefully unprepared for the realities of nomadic life, with or without the psycho boyfriend. The whole situation is tragic.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

The Utah police made numerous blunders during that traffic stop as was discussed at length starting on page 54 of this thread. They disregarded and seemingly didn’t even document the injuries to Gabby’s face and arms. They only called one of the two witnesses and didn’t attempt to contact the witness who they had been informed by dispatch had seen Brian hitting Gabby. They falsely claimed both witnesses had identified Gabby as the aggressor — neither witness said anything close to that. And what was the other thing? Oh right, they spent 15 minutes on camera conspiring to break the law!!! (Which they ultimately did. More on that hot mess in my post on page 67 where I linked the second-released video of the body cam footage.)

I don’t know the specifics of the Petito’s lawsuit or if it’s winnable but at the very least there need to be repercussions for Officer Pratt, if not Officer Robbins as well.

 

[Wendy1985]

The Utah police made numerous blunders during that traffic stop as was discussed at length starting on page 54 of this thread. They disregarded and seemingly didn’t even document the injuries to Gabby’s face and arms. They only called one of the two witnesses and didn’t attempt to contact the witness who they had been informed by dispatch had seen Brian hitting Gabby. They falsely claimed both witnesses had identified Gabby as the aggressor — neither witness said anything close to that. And what was the other thing? Oh right, they spent 15 minutes on camera conspiring to break the law!!! (Which they ultimately did. More on that hot mess in my post on page 67 where I linked the second-released video of the body cam footage.)

I don’t know the specifics of the Petito’s lawsuit or if it’s winnable but at the very least there need to be repercussions for Officer Pratt, if not Officer Robbins as well.

How did they break the law

 

[TipsyTraveler]

How did they break the law

It’s explained on page 67 but basically, as the officers themselves agreed, the circumstances met the criteria of domestic assault so by law those officers were required to charge the aggressor and take them to jail. Would anything have turned out differently had Gabby spent a night in jail and had time to talk to officers away from Brian? Who knows. Regardless, the officers actively sought ways to avoid doing what they knew they were legally required to do and that’s a problem.