White Male Supremacy And Inadequately Trained Police Aided In The Death of Gabby Petito
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The slogan defund the police has been popular since the murder of George Floyd in 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer. Defund the police is usually associated with police brutality and the murders of unarmed Black men and women at the hands of law enforcement.
However, if you took the time to understand what defund the police means, you would understand that the concept addresses several problems with modern day law enforcement. This not only includes reallocating funds from police departments to community social services, but sending adequately trained officials to scenes of domestic disputes involving mental illness and domestic violence.
Gabby Petito’s family has sued the Moab, Utah Police Department for 50 million dollars for negligence in the way they handled a domestic violence call involving Petito, and her murderer-fiance, Brian Laundrie, weeks before her murder in 2021.
On August 12, 2021, Moab police pulled over Petito and Laundrie after 911 dispatchers received reports from onlookers that Petito and Laundrie had been fighting. The officers who responded to the scene, as the lawsuit shows, did not handle the situation properly as they were not adequately trained to recognize the signs of domestic violence.
The white male officers, in dashcam video, patronized Petito and wrongfully concluded that she was the aggressor.
If you watch, these officers are grossly incompetent, and they side with Laundrie — ignoring all the signs of being abused that Petito exhibited such as protecting her abuser and taking blame for his actions. There were also bruises to her face that are not seen in the video.
Petito, 22, is crying and clearly distressed. This does not mean she’s high-strung or that OCD is to blame. She has been fighting with Laundrie all day, as they both admit, and a 911 call said Laundrie was seen slapping her and chasing her up and down the sidewalk.