section_path: Disappearance/Domestic disturbance incident
section_name: Domestic disturbance incident
paragraph_text: Domestic disturbance incident
  
  On August 12, 2021, a witness called 9-1-1 to report that a couple (later identified as Laundrie and Petito) were fighting in front of the Moonflower Community Cooperative in Moab, Utah. The caller said they saw a man slap a woman, after which the man and woman ran up and down the sidewalk, then the man hit the woman again before they drove off together. Another witness described the incident to police as looking like Petito and Laundrie were talking "aggressively" and that Petito "was punching him in the arm". The witness said it looked like Laundrie was trying to leave Petito behind and take her phone with him. Before they drove off together, she climbed into the driver's seat, moved over into the passenger's seat so he could drive, and asked him, "Why do you have to be so mean?"
  
  Officers from the Moab City Police Department (MCPD) identified the van driving erratically near the entrance to Arches National Park and conducted a traffic stop. They found Petito sobbing in the passenger's seat, with police body camera footage showing that she then told officers:
  
  Yeah, I don't know if some days, I have really bad OCD. I was just cleaning and straightening up, back in the... I was apologizing to him and saying, "I'm sorry that I'm so mean," because sometimes I have OCD and sometimes I can get really frustrated. Not like mean towards him. I just like, I just, my vibe is, I'm in a bad mood. And, I was just saying I'm sorry if I'm in a bad mood. I just... I had so much work I was doing on my computer this morning. And, I just now quit my job to travel across the country and I'm trying to start a blog. I have a blog. So I've been building my website. I've been really stressed and he doesn't really believe that I could do any of it, so, we've just been fighting all morning and he wouldn't let me in the car before.
  
  Petito first downplayed the physical altercation; after the officer pointed out marks on her arm and face and told her to "just be honest", she said that Laundrie "kept telling to shut up" and "grabbed face" which had caused an injury.
  
  Laundrie told the officer, "I said, 'Let's just take a breather and let's not go anywhere, and just calm down for a minute.' She was getting worked up. And then she had her phone and was trying to get the keys from me. I was just trying to I know I shouldn't push her. I was just trying to push her away to go, 'Let's take a minute and step back and breathe and see.' She got me with her phone."
  
  Petito told the officer that she hit Laundrie first, and asked the officers to not separate them. In his report, one of the officers wrote, "At no point in my investigation did Gabrielle stop crying, breathing heavily, or compose a sentence without needing to wipe away tears, wipe her nose, or rub her knees with her hands. The male tried to create distance by telling Gabby to take a walk to calm down. She did not want to be separated from the male and began slapping him. He grabbed her face and pushed her back as she pressed upon him and the van."
  
  Neither Petito nor Laundrie wanted to press charges as a result of the incident, which was characterized by police as a mental breakdown rather than domestic violence, which would have required an arrest. The police separated the couple, arranging for Laundrie to spend a night at the Bowen Motel in Moab, and for Petito to stay in the van.
  
  The MCPD later investigated whether or not its officers handled the case in accordance with the department's policies, and its chief of police took a leave of absence during the investigation.
  
  On August 12, 2021, a witness called 9-1-1 to report that a couple (later identified as Laundrie and Petito) were fighting in front of the Moonflower Community Cooperative in Moab, Utah. The caller said they saw a man slap a woman, after which the man and woman ran up and down the sidewalk, then the man hit the woman again before they drove off together. Another witness described the incident to police as looking like Petito and Laundrie were talking "aggressively" and that Petito "was punching him in the arm". The witness said it looked like Laundrie was trying to leave Petito behind and take her phone with him. Before they drove off together, she climbed into the driver's seat, moved over into the passenger's seat so he could drive, and asked him, "Why do you have to be so mean?"
  
  Officers from the Moab City Police Department (MCPD) identified the van driving erratically near the entrance to Arches National Park and conducted a traffic stop. They found Petito sobbing in the passenger's seat, with police body camera footage showing that she then told officers:
  
  Yeah, I don't know if some days, I have really bad OCD. I was just cleaning and straightening up, back in the... I was apologizing to him and saying, "I'm sorry that I'm so mean," because sometimes I have OCD and sometimes I can get really frustrated. Not like mean towards him. I just like, I just, my vibe is, I'm in a bad mood. And, I was just saying I'm sorry if I'm in a bad mood. I just... I had so much work I was doing on my computer this morning. And, I just now quit my job to travel across the country and I'm trying to start a blog. I have a blog. So I've been building my website. I've been really stressed and he doesn't really believe that I could do any of it, so, we've just been fighting all morning and he wouldn't let me in the car before.
  
  Petito first downplayed the physical altercation; after the officer pointed out marks on her arm and face and told her to "just be honest", she said that Laundrie "kept telling to shut up" and "grabbed face" which had caused an injury.
  
  Laundrie told the officer, "I said, 'Let's just take a breather and let's not go anywhere, and just calm down for a minute.' She was getting worked up. And then she had her phone and was trying to get the keys from me. I was just trying to I know I shouldn't push her. I was just trying to push her away to go, 'Let's take a minute and step back and breathe and see.' She got me with her phone."
  
  Petito told the officer that she hit Laundrie first, and asked the officers to not separate them. In his report, one of the officers wrote, "At no point in my investigation did Gabrielle stop crying, breathing heavily, or compose a sentence without needing to wipe away tears, wipe her nose, or rub her knees with her hands. The male tried to create distance by telling Gabby to take a walk to calm down. She did not want to be separated from the male and began slapping him. He grabbed her face and pushed her back as she pressed upon him and the van."
  
  Neither Petito nor Laundrie wanted to press charges as a result of the incident, which was characterized by police as a mental breakdown rather than domestic violence, which would have required an arrest. The police separated the couple, arranging for Laundrie to spend a night at the Bowen Motel in Moab, and for Petito to stay in the van.
  
  The MCPD later investigated whether or not its officers handled the case in accordance with the department's policies, and its chief of police took a leave of absence during the investigation.