Some Rights Reserved Beacon Radio.
A former police SWAT team supervisor filed a lawsuit on Monday against Beverly Hills and its police department, after he claims he was fired for reporting that another officer was ogling Whitey Houston’s corpse.
Officer Brian Weir filed a preliminary claim in September that accused Sgt. Terry Nutall, who was a detective at the time, of inappropriately interacting with Houston’s corpse moments after the singer passed away.
Weir’s lawsuit claimed that after he placed a sheet over Houston’s body, Nutall pulled the sheet “below her pubic region” and said, “Damn, she’s still looking good, huh?”
Weir was later removed from his position and he believes that it was due to this incident.
Authorities cited misconduct as the reason Weir was removed from his position as the head of the department’s SWAT team.
Weir is now asking for unspecified damages for pain and suffering and loss of special unit pay.
Nutall has earned a promotion since the incident and now holds the title of lieutenant.
Photo Cred. Mark J. Terrill/AP
Police spokesman Lt. Lincoln Hoshino said Nutall was expected to respond to the scene and therefore could not be reprimanded for interacting with Houston’s body.
Hoshino also insisted that the department had no proof that any inappropriate comments were made about Houston’s body.
The singer, 48, was found dead in her hotel room at a Beverly Hills Hotel in 2012.
Her cause of death was determined to be accidental drowning, but cocaine was also found in her system.
The Los Angeles County Coroner also listed heart disease as a factor in her death.
Houston was in Los Angeles at the time to attend a pre-Grammy event hosted by her famous mentor and mega-producer, Clive Davis.
