Florida top cop admits ‘human error’ in Brian Laundrie case

The Florida police chief tasked with maintaining tabs on Brian Laundrie earlier than a large manhunt for the fugitive admitted to “human error” in the case.

North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison mentioned cops dropped the ball once they noticed the fugitive exterior his mother and father’ residence on Sept. 15 — solely to later be taught it was truly Laundrie’s mom.

“As a leader, what do I do?” Garrison mentioned at a latest discussion board. “No, people want open transparency and honesty from their law enforcement officials.”

“Yes, we made a mistake,” he added. “It was human error, but I still stand behind my team.”

But Garrison, talking on the South County Tiger Bay Club in Venice on Friday, mentioned the gaffe didn’t hamper the investigation — Laundrie had gone lacking a day earlier and will have already been useless.

“Now we know that, by the time we became the lead agency, Brian had already left the house and presumably had already been deceased out in the Carlton Reserve.”

Gabby Petito, 22, was reported lacking by her mom in Suffolk County on Sept. 11 after Laundrie returned residence from the younger couple’s cross-country journey 10 days earlier.

The Blue Point native’s physique was discovered at a Wyoming campground on Sept. 19.

Laundrie, the topic of a weeks-long manhunt in the case, was discovered on the 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve on Oct. 21, though the reason for demise has but to be decided.

Red-faced North Port cops admitted final month they mistook Laundrie’s mother, Roberta, for her fugitive son whereas watching their residence earlier than he was reported lacking.

Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman, who was a part of the panel with Garrison and took half in the manhunt, mentioned Laundrie was seemingly useless by then.

He defended the choice to proceed to go looking Carlton for weeks regardless of reported Laundrie sightings as far north as North Carolina.

“That guy went out there and by all accounts probably committed suicide and he was right out there where we thought he was,” Hoffman mentioned. “There was four feet of water out there at the time.”