A 911 call reporting a "domestic dispute" between Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie is shedding new light on the incident between the couple on Aug. 12 in Utah.
In the video, you can hear the 911 operator say, "What were they doing?” Shortly after, the caller says, “We drove by and he was slapping the girl.”
A short time after that call was made, police stopped Laundrie and Petito on the highway in Utah.
In the
body cam video, police say they believed Gabby was the aggressor after finding scratches on Brian's face.
However, the witness clearly told the 911 operator that Petito was the one who was hit.
Police separated the couple for the night, but no charges were filed.
Police characterized it as a “mental/emotional health break” and not a “domestic assault.”
Officers spoke to the 911 caller, Petito and Laundrie.
One officer stated that “no one reported the male struck the female” and that no one wished for charges to be filed.
A second officer, however, said of the witness, “Christopher told me that he was not entirely sure what it is he had seen, but feared the worst.”
Keith Scott, of The Safe Center LI, assists domestic violence victims in getting help. He says the discrepancy between the officers’ statements could be a perception issue because callers don't always say exactly what happened.
Scott also says if the same incident happened in New York, not Utah, then someone would have been arrested.
“In New York State, if police respond and two are saying ‘please don’t arrest my partner, I don’t want this, I’m not pressing charges,’ the police officer still has to arrest,” Scott says. “They must arrest by law.”
The incident happened two weeks before Petito’s last known FaceTime call with her mother.