Chilling moment Gabby Petito cops say domestic abuse victims ‘end up getting killed’ then decide NOT to press charges

COPS who quizzed sobbing Gabby Petito discussed how domestic abuse victims "end up getting killed" - then decided not to press charges, chilling bodycam video reveals.

The officers stopped the YouTuber and fiance Brian Laundrie after a witness saw him slap her less than two weeks before she vanished.

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Despite a 911 dispatcher , the cops who pulled over their van in Moab, Utah, decided he was the victim of an attack by her.

Body worn camera footage shows when they spoke to her, while Laundrie laughed and chatted with the officers.

, 22 — who had what — tearfully apologised and told them she'd hit Laundrie during a "fight".

, 23, who had scratches on his arms and hands, admitted he pushed Gabby several times to fend her off.

Now a new clip shows the officers discussing what to do next.

One cop sitting in a car is heard speaking by phone or radio to a colleague, saying he believed the incident was "minor".

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He questions whether they need to pursue formal domestic abuse proceedings, even though state law mandates arrest or citation.

He even looks up the statutory definition of assault, apparently trying to find a way to avoid classifying it as such and having to arrest 105lbs Gabby.

The cop then chillingly explains to his partner at the scene why the rules demand alleged domestic assaults are formally recorded even when the victim does not want to press charges.

He says: "The reason why they don't give us discretion on these things is because too many times women who are at risk want to go back to their abuser, just want him to stop.

"They don't want to have to be separated, they don't want him charged, they don't want him to go to jail and they end up getting worse and worse treatment and they end up getting killed.

"In no way, shape or form that I can perceive does what happened here - a little slap fight between fiancees who love each other and want to be together - can I perceive that this is going to digress into the situation where he's gonna be a battered man."

At no point in the clip do they discuss whether Gabby might be at risk from Laundrie.

Instead they are concerned that she is anxious not to be alone.

Their solution is to separate the couple for one night, checking Laundrie into a hotel so Gabby can stay in the van rather than "go to jail".

RED FLAG

Moab police has already into its handling of the encounter on August 12.

A family friend has claimed the cops .

Maija Polsley said: "This is exactly what I said - the cop completely skimmed over what Gabby said, and there was a bruise on her cheek and she said he grabbed her.

"Yet the cop concludes Gabby is the aggressor — seemingly because his wife is crazy sometimes.

"And they got Brian a hotel room and left Gabby, who was clearly upset, to fend for herself! And now the truth comes out! Wow!"

Meanwhile forensic psychiatrist Dr Ziv Evra Cohen has said Gabby looks "scared and very overwhelmed" in the footage.

She said the “imbalance” between sobbing Gabby and calm Laundrie .

Cohen told : “She was emoting so much that it was very clear that there had been an incident and there had been a problem of some kind that she was struggling with.”

Vlogger Gabby and her fiance passed through Utah while , documenting their travels on YouTube.

She was last seen alive leaving a hotel on August 24, and phoned her family the next day to say they had reached Grand Teton National Park.

Her mother Nichole Schmidt reported her missing on September 11 having not heard from her for more than two weeks.

Laundrie had returned in the van alone to his parents' home in Florida on September 1.

He refused to cooperate with investigators, and is now missing - with Dog The Bounty Hunter claimed to be assisting the search.

Gabby's body was found in Wyoming on September 19.

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The but it is being treated as homicide.

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