Gabby Petito Tells Police Brian Laundrie Hit Her In Newly Released Bodycam Footage, Says He Grabbed Her Face
New bodycam footage has been released showing Gabby Petito speaking to police about an incident that occurred between her and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie.
On August 12, police in Utah responded to a call after the couple reportedly got into an argument outside the Moonflower Community Cooperative store in Moab.
In the new footage, an officer asked the 22-year-old if Laundrie hit her. "I guess, yeah, but I hit him first," she answered.
"It kinda looks like someone might have hit you in the face?" an officer asked her. "And then over on your arm — your shoulder right here that's new huh? You have a new mark." Petito looked at her arm and said she didn't know what happened.
Petito first said that Laundrie's backpack was what hit her. "It was happening really fast. I was trying to get back in the car and his backpack got me," she said.
The cop told Petito that two witnesses said they saw Laundrie hit her. "Well to be honest I definitely hit him first," Petito then said.
"He like grabbed my face, like, like I guess. He didn’t like like hit me in the face. He didn’t like punch me in the face," the influencer explained. "Well, he like grabbed me, like, with his nail, and I guess that's why it hurts. I definitely have a cut. Like, I can feel it," she said when an officer asked if the 23-year-old slapped her in the face.
In the new footage, Petito said that Laundrie was "frustrated" with her and locked her out of the van. "I was just really stressed this morning trying to get a lot of work done and I was apologizing to him," she said. "I get so stressed out. I have OCD and I was like organizing stuff and sometimes I get this mean attitude when I'm not trying to be mean and I was trying to straighten things out."
"And I was just apologizing but I guess I said it in like a mean tone," Petito said. She said Laundrie told her to "take a breather" but she didn't want to.
- Report Suggests Moab Police Made Mistakes During Gabby Petito & Brian Laundrie's 'Domestic Violence' Incident On Road Trip
- City Of Moab Says They Are 'Investigating' The Way That Police Officers Responded To Gabby Petito & Brian Laundrie's Dispute
- New Police Recording From Gabby Petito & Brian Laundrie's Dispute Reveals Cops At The Scene Knew About The 911 Call Alleging He Was 'Slapping' Her
When asked if Laundrie was drinking, Petito said that she and her boyfriend don't drink.
In the footage, the witness recalled what he saw at the Moonflower, the Daily Mail reported. The witness said he saw a couple that seemed to be "squabbling over a phone." Laundrie allegedly was not letting his girlfriend in the van so she "hit him a few times" but it "wasn't like a punch to the face" and more like "children fighting," the witness said.
Laundrie was seen speaking to cops in the new footage and said that he didn't "want to try to defend myself by saying anything here but I pushed her away," per the Mail. "She gets really worked up, and when she does she swings and she had her cell phone in her hand. So I was just trying to push her away," he said.
Bodycam footage from the same incident was also released earlier this month. The initial footage revealed that cops agreed that Petito was "the primary aggressor."
The responding officers are reportedly being investigated for how the situation was handled.
Laundrie returned home from the couple's road trip on September 1 without his girlfriend. Petito was reported missing on September 11. Her body was found in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park on Sunday, September 19.
Laundrie is a person of interest in Petito's case but his whereabouts are unknown.
