Gabby Petito’s parents file $50 million lawsuit against police | Channel

• The parents of Gabby Petito are suing the police for allegedly failing to protect their daughter after she’d gotten into a physical altercation with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie.
• The YouTuber was later found dead in a forest, while Laundrie was on the run. He later turned up dead as well.
• The City of Moab has denied being responsible for Petito’s death and said they will “ardently defend against this lawsuit”.

The parents of missing YouTuber, Gabby Petito, who was later found dead, are suing the Moab Police Department for their alleged failure to protect their daughter.

Petito was travelling across the country with her fiancé Brian Laundrie. Laundrie would eventually return home without her, raising suspicions. Footage later showed police responding to a call after the two got into a physical altercation.

Though they suggested the couple spent the night apart, they didn’t file a report following the incident or investigate further, and after Laundrie himself went missing and turned up dead, many believed he’d killed Petito, who died by strangulation.

Now, the Petito family has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Moab Police Department.

“They relied on these officers to uphold the law, to serve and protect their daughter,” attorney Brian Stewart of the Parker & McConkie law firm, who represents the YouTuber’s parents, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, as well as her stepparents Tara Petito and Jim Schmidt, said in a statement to E! News. “However, when it became clear that the officers involved did not fully investigate the threat she faced and did not follow the law, they knew they owed it to Gabby to demand accountability and change.”

Stewart added: “Gabby’s death was foreseeable and preventable. Gabby would be alive today if the officers had done their job to protect her and followed the law.”

The City of Moab has denied being responsible for Petito’s death, CNN reports, saying in a statement: “The attorneys for the Petito family seem to suggest that somehow our officers could see into the future based on this single interaction. In truth, on Aug. 12, no one could have predicted the tragedy that would occur weeks later and hundreds of miles away, and the City of Moab will ardently defend against this lawsuit.”