Utah PD To Return Gabby Petito Bodycam Fees To Press: Report

MOAB, UT — Officials in Moab City, Utah plan to return nearly $3,000 in fees they collected from 30 media organizations for the release of the police bodycam footage showing a traffic stop with Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The widely-circulated video from Aug. 12 featured the couple’s camper van being pulled over by the Moab City police after a 911 caller reported seeking them in a physical altercation on Main Street. A tearful Petito can be seen crying through much of the interaction as she and Laundrie separately explain what transpired during the argument.

The police department charged members of the press $98 for the digital recording, but the city has now decided to return the fees after The Tribune asked for an explanation of the charge because they appeared to violate Utah law, the outlet reported. Under the law, agencies can only charge for the “actual costs of providing a record,” according to the outlet.

City spokeswoman Lisa Church told The Tribune that “even if one person were charged a fee, once that document is created, everybody else should not have been charged.”

The fees amounted to about three times what the department had expected to collect in records revenue for the fiscal year, according to a budget document obtained by the outlet.

The total fees collected amounted to $2,940, the outlet reported.

It was expected that Moab would receive $1,000 in records fees, and that same amount was budgeted for 2022, according to the outlet.

Church told the outlet that it can expect to see the refund as early as next week, the outlet reported.

In the bodycam footage, police can be seen speaking with Petito and Laundrie, discussing the serious implications of their argument, which could have resulted in an arrest. It is later decided that it would be best for the two to separate for the night. The handling of the situation has since drawn criticism and an outside agency is now investigating how it was handled.

Petito was found strangled to death near Grand Teton National Park a little over one month after the incident in Moab. Laundrie, who was the sole person of interest in her death, was confirmed dead last week. The cause of his death has not yet been determined.

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