The Cops Gave Brian Laundrie the Benefit of the Doubt
On Aug. 12, 2021, a witness called 911 to report he had seen a man slapping a woman on the side of the road in Moab, Utah, after which they drove off and the van they were riding in hit a curb.
Body cam footage from the Moab City Police’s encounter with Brian and Gabby that day was aired weeks later during the investigation into Gabby’s fate.
But it remains shocking to see Gabby basically taking responsibility for their physical altercation, telling officers she had anxiety and “really bad OCD” and Brian really stressed her out but had been trying to calm her down.
Brian had scratches on his face from Gabby’s phone, he said, per the body cam footage, telling police he was trying to push her away as she attempted to get the van keys from him.
When a cop asked Gabby how she got bruises on her face and arm, in the footage she kept saying “I don’t know.” But she had been yelling at him, she said, and told police, “I guess I hit him first.”
One officer told another, per the footage, that “from what she’s claiming, she’s the full-on aggressor here.”
A cop then escorted Brian to a hotel known in the area as a refuge for victims of domestic violence, while Gabby was given the keys to the van and told where, an officer said, she could get a cheap hot shower to “decompress, destress a little bit.”
The couple were ordered to refrain from contact, including texting, until the next day, but they reunited that night and soon were headed to Salt Lake City.
