According to the wrongful death claim filed by the Petito family, police in Utah failed to recognize their daughter as a victim of domestic violence, which led to her death.
Attorney Brian Stewart said at a press conference on Monday that they believe that the officers were negligent and that their carelessness contributed to the death of the girl.
The officers who stopped Petito and Laundrie are being sought by the family for $50 million. The department's failure to train its staff on domestic violence investigations was argued to be negligent by the claim.
When the full evidence is made public, it will show that if the officers had been properly trained and followed the law, they wouldn't be dead today.
The officers made mistakes when they responded to a domestic issue between Petito and Laundrie. It would be difficult to say what impact the mistakes had on Petito's death.
The 22-year-old aspiring social media influencer was traveling across the country by van with her fiancé, then disappeared in late August 2021, while he returned to his parents' home in Florida alone The cause of death for Petito was determined to be strangulation. Laundrie fled as the investigation into her death began. The cause of death was determined to be suicide after his remains were found in a nature reserve.
Attorneys for Petito's parents said it was clear that the officers failed to recognize that she was in a life threatening situation.
The officers did not interview the person who had called in to report that Laundrie had slapped Petito.
They focused on Petito as the one who hit Laundrie because she said she hit him to get his attention. Petito told officers that Laundrie had grabbed her and left marks on her skin.
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