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| Photo Credit: AP. |
The family of Gabby Petito is filing notice of claim alleging the police failed her. Nicole Schmidt watched body camera footage of her daughter Gabby Petito sobbing while Utah police officers questioned her about a fight with her boyfriend, The Associated Press reports.
Last summer,
authorities released the video after Petito had gone missing during a
cross-country van trip with her boyfriend, according to The Associated Press.
Schmidt was desperately looking for her daughter and on the video she saw her daughter
cry for help.
Instead of
answering those cries, police in the tourist town of Moab, Utah, allowed the
couple to leave after requiring them to spend one night apart from each other.
Where was Petito's strangled body discovered?
It wasn’t
long when Petito’s strangled body was discovered the next month on the edge of
Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, wrote in a
notebook admitting he killed her. The notebook was discovered near his body in
a Florida swamp, where Laundrie took his own life, The Associated Press quoted
authorities to have said.
The Petito
family is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the officers. They announced
Monday they plan to file against Moab, arguing the officers’ failed to
recognize their daughter was in a life-threatening situation last year and in
need of help, according to The Associated Press.
“I wanted to
jump through the screen and rescue her,” said Schmidt, wiping away tears as she
appeared by video at a news conference to announce a notice of claim filed
Monday, The Associated Press reported.
According to The Associated Press, notices of claims are required before people can sue government entities. The Petito family said the lawsuit will seek $50 million in damages but Moab officials have 60 days to respond before the family can file a lawsuit based on the claim.
Officers failed to recognize the serious danger that Gabby Petito was in - Lawyer
The family’s
lawyer, James McConkie told reporters in Salt Lake City that “the officers fail
to recognize the serious danger that she was in, and failed to investigate
fully and properly,” according to The Associated Press.
“They did not have the training that they
needed to recognize the clear signs that were evident that morning, that Gabby
was a victim and that she was in serious need of immediate help,” he added.
Although
public workers such as police officers have immunity from lawsuits in Utah and
a number of other U.S. states, the Petito family’s attorneys say they plan to challenge
the immunity in court.