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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 14 January 2022
Probe finds ‘unintentional mistakes’ in Petito police stop

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An The City of Moab praised
investigation has found the officers, saying they
that Utah police made "showed kindness, respect
"several unintentional mis- and empathy in their han-
takes" when they stopped dling of this incident."
Gabby Petito and her boy- The 102-page report,
friend before she was killed meanwhile, faulted the of-
in what became a high- ficers for not issuing a cita-
profile missing person case. tion and not talking to a
The independent report 911 caller who had report-
released Wednesday ex- ed seeing the fight differ-
amines a stop by police in ently — the couple outside
the tourist town of Moab on their van and a man slap-
Aug. 12. Officers investigat- ping a girl.
ed a fight between Petito Still, it found that the offi-
and her boyfriend Brian cers did what they thought
Laundrie but ultimately was right at the time, and
determined Petito was the responsibility for Petito's
aggressor. They allowed death lays with her killer
the couple to leave after alone.
requiring them to spend a The report recommended
night apart. improved training, espe-
Police body camera video cially in domestic violence
of a visibly upset Petito, investigation, and that the
22, was widely viewed as officers involved be put on
the investigation unfolded probation or have existing
and raised questions about probation extended.
whether a more robust po- Ratcliffe wrote that while it
lice response could have may have been true that
prevented her death. Petito was the aggressor
"Would Gabby be alive in the specific fight Moab
today if this case was han- Associated Press police investigated, that
dled differently? That is an to Arches National Park. Laundrie was the only per- anyone, finding the inci- wasn't necessarily the tenor
impossible question to an- Laundrie, 23, said on the son ever identified by law dent was more of a mental of their relationship.
swer despite it being the video the couple got into enforcement officials as or emotional health break. "There have been many
answer many people want a minor scuffle that began a person of interest in the One officer who argued times in my career where
to know. when he climbed into the case. He was found dead against citing her said someone who we know
Nobody knows and no- van with dirty feet. of a self-inflicted gunshot Laundrie might bail her out from past experience to
body will ever know the Petito faulted her own de- wound in a swamp after re- of jail and then have "more be a long-term victim of
answer to that question," sire to keep the converted turning alone to his parents' control over her." domestic violence, gets ar-
wrote Capt. Brandon Rat- camper van clean, and home in Florida. Both were That officer told investiga- rested for committing an
cliffe, from the police de- Laundrie declined to press originally from Long Island, tors that if he had known act of domestic violence
partment in Price, Utah, charges. New York. she was in life-threatening against their long-term
who prepared the report. She was reported missing a Utah law says police should danger he would taken his abuser," Ratcliffe wrote.
The officers stopped the month after the traffic stop, cite an aggressor in domes- own time to follow them. "I "It's very likely Gabby was a
couple during a cross- and her strangled body tic violence assaults. In this would have done anything long-term victim of domes-
country trip, after their van was discovered Sept. 19 on case, the officers deter- to stop it if I would have tic violence, whether that
was seen speeding and hit the edge of Grand Teton mined Petito had been the known that was coming ... be physically, mentally,
a curb near the entrance National Park in Wyoming. aggressor but didn't cite I am devastated about it." and/or emotionally."q

U.S. jobless claims rise by 23,000 to 230,000

By PAUL WISEMAN of the omicron variant. Yet the omicron variant are peaking.'' down at home and many busi-
AP Economics Writer jobs market has bounced back Altogether, 1.6 million people were nesses closed or cut back hours.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number strongly from last year's coronavi- collecting jobless aid the week Employers slashed millions of jobs
of Americans applying for unem- rus recession. Jobless claims had that ended Jan. 1. in March and April 2020, and the
ployment benefits rose last week fallen mostly steadily for about a Companies are holding onto work- unemployment rate rocketed to
to the highest level since mid- year and they dipped below the ers at a time when it's difficult to 14.7%.
November, but still low by historic pre-pandemic average of around find replacements. Employers post- But massive government spend-
standards. 220,000 a week. ed 10.6 million job openings in No- ing — and eventually the rollout of
U.S. jobless claims climbed by "The rise in claims likely reflects an vember, the fifth-highest monthly vaccines — brought the economy
23,000 last week to 230,000, the De- increase in layoffs due to the surge total in records going back to 2000. back. Last year, employers added
partment of Labor said Thursday. in COVID cases,'' said economists A record 4.5 million workers quit a record 6.4 million jobs — but that
The four-week moving average, Nancy Vanden Houten and Kathy their jobs in November — a sign still was not enough to make up
which smooths out week-to-week Bostjancic of Oxford Economics. that they are confident enough to for the unprecedented 9.4 million
blips, rose nearly 6,300 to almost "Claims may remain elevated in look something better. jobs lost in 2020. And hiring slowed
211,000. the near term, but we expect ini- The job market has bounced back in November and December last
The weekly applications, a proxy tial claims will gravitate back to from last year's brief but intense year as employers struggled to fill
for layoffs, have risen in four of the 200k level once the omicron coronavirus recession. When CO- job openings.
the last five weeks, a period that wave passes. Encouragingly, there VID-19 hit, governments ordered Still, the unemployment rate fell last
runs in tandem with the spread are indications that cases from the lockdowns, consumers hunkered month to a pandemic low 3.9%.q