September 26, 2021

BREAKING: Utah Cops WERE Told Brian Laundrie Was Beating Gabby Petito Before Pulling Them Over

The police who pulled over Laundrie and Petito in their van ultimately determined Petito had been the aggressor in their fight. Body camera footage shows police asking why she slapped her boyfriend Laundrie in a dramatic incident 13 days before she disappeared on their cross-country trip

New dispatch audio shows that Utah police were told Brian Laundrie hit Gabby Petito before they pulled their van over on August 12, and may have violated protocol when they did not arrest him.

Laundrie is seen with scratches on his face which he tells an officer were caused when Petito 'was trying to get the keys from me' and 'hit me with her phone.' Utah state law dictates that officers make an arrest or issue a citation when they have reason to believe domestic violence had taken place

The audio appears to contradict earlier reports that the responding officers in Moab City, Utah were unaware of a call from a witness who claimed to have seen Laundrie slapping Petito in their white Ford transit van before driving off.

‘RP (reporting party) states seeing a male hit a female, domestic,’ the dispatcher told police at around 4.38pm local time, according to the audio, first obtained by Fox 13. ‘He got into a white Ford Transit van, has a black ladder on the back, Florida plate.

An officer asks for further information regarding the witness, and is again told that Petito had allegedly been hit.

Moab police officers separated the couple for the night after pulling them over. The City of Moab said they are 'unaware of any breach of Police Department policy' in their handling of Petito and Laundrie's domestic dispute

‘Phone number is [redacted], name’s [redacted],’ the dispatcher responds at 4:42 p.m. ‘I’m not sure [inaudible], but the female who got hit, they both, the male and the female, both got into the van and headed north.’

When an officer asks Petito if her boyfriend hit her, she replies 'I guess' and gestures to her chin. Petito admits he 'pushed her' during the altercation

The new information comes as the Moab Police Department announced an independent probe on Thursday into the officers’ handing of the alleged domestic dispute about a month before Petito was found dead.

Petito was reported missing on September 11 after her 23-year-old fiancé, Laundrie, came back to his parents' home in Florida.

Neither police nor city officials have said whether the responding officers were aware they were dealing with a potential domestic violence incident when they pulled the couple over.

But they treated Petito as the primary aggressor in bodycam footage of the August 12 incident, after Laundrie was found with wounds on his face.

he pair were on a cross-country road trip in Petito's white van and they were documenting their travels on social media platforms including Instagram and YouTube before authorities found Petito's body in Grand Teton Park on September 19

Utah law requires cops to make an arrest or issue a citation if they believe an incident of domestic violence has taken place.

Neither Petito nor Laundrie were arrested. They were instead separated for the night in an attempt to calm the situation down, before being allowed to continue on their way.

Meanwhile family and friends mourned Gabby Petito at a funeral service on Sunday in Holbrook, Suffolk County

Body camera footage from the responding officers show them determining Petito was the ‘primary aggressor in the dispute after interviewing both of them, despite the call from the witness, after she admits to them that she hit Laundrie.

They pulled them over after reporting that the driver of a vehicle ahead was showing ‘obscure driving’, driving 45mph in a 15mph road, and is ‘possibly intoxicated.’