A RAPE survivor – who has slammed Gabby Petito Utah police officer Eric Pratt for a way he dealt with her personal case – says she sobbed when she noticed how he handled Gabby’s home dispute simply days earlier than she was murdered.
Jerika Peterson, 21, spoke to The U.S. Solar this week about how disgusted she was with the best way Officer Pratt, now a defendant in a wrongful demise swimsuit, dealt together with her criticism.
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Stunning video footage confirmed Moab cops with Gabby and Brian after they had been pulled overCredit score: AP
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Jerika Peterson has spoken out amid a bombshell lawsuit from Petito’s householdCredit score: Jerika Peterson
She was attacked at 15 by a male good friend in Salina, the place Pratt used to work, again in September 2016, and regardless of promising to get justice, her attacker was by no means arrested.
Jerika suffered a brutal assault as she was sodomized by the drunken 18-year-old and left with accidents after attempting to combat him off.
Regardless of textual content messages exhibiting she fled the scene, adopted by an apology for his conduct, Jerika’s rapist was solely ever interviewed – and commenced turning up at occasions she attended.
She stated Pratt was by no means even in a position to get a no-contact order as she dealt together with her trauma, and her ordeal was again on the forefront of her thoughts when Pratt made the information in 2021.
In line with his LinkedIn account, Pratt labored for Salina PD, which is 158 miles from Moab, from January 2014 to September 2017.
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He left Salina following reviews he had an affair with a girl who has since accused him of threatening to kill her with a crowbar, and Jerika feels he shouldn’t be an officer.
She says she was in tears when she noticed the body-cam footage of a distraught Gabby, 22, being pulled over in Moab with fiance Brian Laundrie, 23.
Pratt finally named her the “major aggressor” after she admitted to slapping her associate, and an impartial evaluation discovered errors had been made by the officers concerned.
Speaking about her ordeal after reporting her rape, Jerika informed The U.S. Solar: “Virtually precisely 5 years to the day [the attack happened], my rapist shot himself.
“I do not know why he killed himself, however I am guessing his guilt was so dangerous he could not stay with it, it has been a very exhausting state of affairs for me. I do not know tips on how to really feel about it.
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NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
“Between that after which seeing the entire stuff with Gabby, I truly ended up going to the psychological hospital, getting in touch with a psychiatrist, and getting some assist. I had a nervous breakdown.
“I used to be fired from my job the day I discovered about my attacker. My mother took me into the behavioral well being unit. I used to be solely there for a day however obtained arrange.
“It simply introduced up quite a lot of previous trauma. Once I noticed the bodycam footage, I simply broke down in tears as a result of I may really feel her ache.
“Then to seek out out what had occurred to her, and that Pratt had let somebody slip by the cracks once more. It was simply sickening.
“I felt like throughout my case, he was on my facet, however then wanting again on it now, it is like nothing was ever completed. And after he left the division, nothing was ever completed about it.”
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Jerika says has suffered from night time terrors and PTSD from the assault and his demise which she is working by with the assistance of a psychiatrist.
“I wakened fully terrified at some point that my abuser hadn’t killed himself and was residing within the residence subsequent door,” she admitted.”
Jerika, who’s now more healthy and happier, claimed Pratt was on her case for greater than a yr earlier than he left the job, and on reflection, she feels her case was swept underneath the rug.
She beforehand revealed her mom took her to the hospital after her assault, as she had cuts and bruises and a sprained jaw, explaining: “I used to be on mashed potatoes and smoothies. It was from me yelling and clenching my jaw.”
The U.S. Solar reached out to Moab Police Division and Salina Police Division, however each declined to touch upon her case.
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BOMBSHELL LAWSUIT
Jerika says she hopes Petito’s household will get some justice after Brian shot himself and they’re now going by the courts with a number of lawsuits, together with the $50million wrongful demise swimsuit in opposition to Moab PD.
Requested why she selected to talk out in opposition to Pratt now amid the lawsuit, she stated: “I wanted to do that, for Gabby and myself. It means a lot to me to really feel like I’ve folks on my facet. It has been a protracted journey.
“I might by no means have been in a position to come ahead with this if it wasn’t for Gabby, she has given me the energy I did not know I had. Getting justice for Gabby and her household is justice for all victims in my eyes.”
Jerika’s feedback come because the Petito household legal professional, Brian Stewart, filed an amended criticism this week, claiming Pratt “knew Brian Laundrie was a psychological and emotional menace to her” but solely determined to separate them for the night time.
The lawsuit, first filed by Legal professional Brian Stewart seven months in the past, accuses the division of a collection of negligent failures throughout an encounter with Gabby and her soon-to-be assassin boyfriend Brian on August 12, 2021.
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On that day, the division had been alerted to a potential home dispute between the couple close to a grocery store with one witness calling 911 saying a person was seen slapping his girlfriend.
The brand new submitting reads: “Officer Pratt has since defined that, on the time of the visitors cease, he believed that Brian was emotionally and mentally abusing Gabby, that Gabby didn’t in reality assault Brian, and that Brian had used bodily power on Gabby by grabbing her face which left a lower on her face.
“Defendants’ negligence and Officer Pratt’s willful misconduct disadvantaged Gabby of her security and finally her life.”
Pratt, Moab PD, and different defendants are but to formally reply to the lawsuit.
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Cop Eric Pratt continues to be believed to be on energetic responsibility regardless of accusationsCredit score: Fb
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A newly-released picture of Gabby Petito reveals accidents from earlier than the visitors cease in MoabCredit score: Parker & McConkie
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Gabby’s fiance Brian Laundrie later shot himself after murdering his associateCredit score: Social Media – Confer with supply
The Iowa State football team has two weeks to solidify themselves and possibly land a spot in the Big 12 championship game in December.
Part one of the two-piece series starts Saturday night, as the Cyclones (8-2, 5-2) make a visit to Salt Lake City to play Utah (4-6, 1-6).
Sitting a game behind co-conference leaders BYU and Colorado, Iowa State is in position but on the outside looking in for the time being. They also have red-hot Arizona State to contend with, as the Sun Devils have quickly climbed the standings and sit tied with ISU.
Utah has dropped six straight since starting the season off 4-0 as preseason favorites to win the Big 12. Of those six losses, four have been decided by eight points or less. Last Saturday, though, they suffered a 25-point setback to Colorado.
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Along with several tough losses, the Utes have been without star quarterback Cam Rising since the losing skid began. Rising is out for the season following multiple injuries, as Isaac Wilson – the brother of NFL QB Zack Wilson – has replaced him.
Iowa State and Utah have a bit of a history, playing each other five times between 1970-2010. The Cyclones won the first four meetings between the two while the Utes won the most recent, claiming a 68-27 victory. Utah was undefeated and ranked 10th in the country during that encounter.
The oddsmakers have the Cyclones set as a 6.5-point favorite. ESPN’s FPI puts them at just over 63 percent to win the game.
Here are the details on how to watch, stream and follow Iowa State’s game at Utah on Saturday night:
Iowa State at Utah TV Channel, Live Stream, Odds
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Who: Iowa State at Utah in a Big 12 football game
When: 6:30 p.m. CT | Saturday, November 23
Where: Rice-Eccles Stadium | Salt Lake City, Utah
Live Stream: Stream Iowa State-Cincinnati live on fuboTV (Start your free trial)
TV Channel: FOX
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Betting Odds: Iowa State is favored by 6.5 points. Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportbook
Our Prediction: Iowa State 24, Utah 10
Live Updates, Highlights: Follow the game on Iowa State on SI for live updates, in-game analysis and big-play highlights throughout Saturday’s matchup.
* Latest betting odds for Iowa State
* Matt Campbell talks up the Utah defense
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* Cyclones right back into contention in wild, wild Big 12
*Three stars in Iowa State’s win over Cincinnati including Stevo Klotz
*Complete game recap of Iowa State’s win over Cincinnati
Utah lawmakers will consider changes to how recently-retired public employees are paid if they later choose to work or volunteer as emergency responders during the upcoming legislative session.
The change is largely administrative, Kory Cox, director of legislative and government affairs for the Utah Retirement System, told lawmakers on Tuesday.The proposed bill would change the compensation limit for first responders like volunteer firefighters, search and rescue personnel and reserve law enforcement, from $500 per month to roughly $20,000 per year.
Some public employees already serve as first responders in addition to their day jobs, Cox and other advocates told the Retirement and Independent Entities Interim Committee at a hearing Tuesday. The current statute has forced those employees to put their service on hold after they retire in order to keep their retirement benefits.
Volunteer firefighters do get paid, despite what their title suggests. Volunteer organizations pay their emergency responders every six months, said Cedar City Fire Chief Mike Phillips, so their paychecks almost always amount to more than $500. Switching from a monthly compensation limit to an annual compensation limit means new retirees can keep up their service, or take up new service, without jeopardizing their retirement benefits.
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“As volunteer agencies, a lot of our employees are government employees,” said Cedar City Fire Chief Mike Phillips. “They work for county and state governments because they allow them to leave their employment to come help us fight fires.”
Clint Smith, Draper City fire chief and president of the Utah State Fire Chiefs Association, told lawmakers Tuesday that volunteerism, “especially in rural volunteer fire agencies,” but also across Utah and the United States, is “decreasing dramatically.”
The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) reported 676,900 volunteer firefighters in the United States, down from 897,750 when the agency started keeping track in 1984. A U.S. Fire Administrations guide book about retention and recruitment for volunteer firefighters published last year wrote that the decline “took place while the United States population grew from nearly 236 million to over 331 million in the same time frame, indicating that volunteerism in the fire and emergency services has not kept pace with population growth.”
The consequences, the guide says, are “dire.”
Roughly 64% of Utah’s fire agencies are volunteer-only, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
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“Anything we can do to help make sure that [volunteers] are not penalized when they separate from their full regular [employment] with the state, to be able to still act in that volunteer capacity is vital to the security and safety of our communities,” Smith said Tuesday.
It was an easy sell for lawmakers. The committee voted unanimously to adopt the bill as a committee bill in the 2025 legislative session with a favorable recommendation.
Shannon Sollitt is a Report for America corps member covering business accountability and sustainabilityfor The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by clicking here.
The Utah State Aggies just grabbed a statement win.
Through four games under new head coach Jerrod Calhoun, the Utah State Aggies had looked impressive, averaging exactly 104 points per game and a margin of victory of exactly 40 points in four wins.
The thing was, the Aggies didn’t play any team that is expected to be near their level, as Alcorn State, Westminster and Montana all play in lesser conferences than the Mountain West and Charlotte was picked to finish eighth in the 13-team AAC, which is considered about on par with the MW.
Finally on Friday night, Utah State faced a team in the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten that not only was more its equal, but was thought to be better, and accordingly was considered a comfortable favorite.
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With the contest being played on a neutral floor in Kansas City, Utah State kept things close for the first 28 minutes or so and then used a surge to take the lead partway through the second half and held on down the stretch to claim the 77-69 victory and move to 5-0 on the season.
With the loss, an Iowa team that is considered to be a potential NCAA Tournament squad moved to 5-1 on the campaign.
The Aggies got off to a nice start and led for most of the first 10 minutes of the game. Things were pretty even throughout most of the rest of the first half, though Iowa put together a little run and led by four at halftime.
At the 12:52 mark of the second half the Hawkeyes went up by four on a dunk from leading scorer Payton Sandfort, but the Aggies responded with a 9-0 run over the next 3:42 to go up by five, 58-53.
Things stayed close for the next few minutes but Iowa never got closer than a point and Utah State created some distance, largely behind Mason Falslev and Karson Templin.
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A dunk from Central Arkansas transfer Tucker Anderson with 54 seconds to play quelled any remaining chance the Hawkeyes had at a comeback after they had cut the deficit from seven to four on a 3 by Brock Harding.
Falslev led all scorers with 25 points and finished with a double-double, as he added 12 rebounds to go along with three assists, two steals and a block.
Ian Martinez added 13 points and Anderson finished with 10. That pair stuffed the stat sheet, combining for 11 rebounds, eight steals, seven assists, and two blocks.
Team-wise, things were rather even statistically except for rebounds and fast break points. The Aggies outrebounded the Hawkeyes 47-31 and scored 21 fast break points compared to just four for Iowa.
Next up for Utah State is a Thanksgiving Day game against St. Bonaventure at Disney World.
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