A complaint has been filed by former LAPD SWAT sergeant Brian Weir, which alleges, that one of his former colleagues, Detective Sergeant Terry Nutall, made inappropriate comments about Whitney Houston's dead body.

Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston photographed in 2011 at a pre-Grammy party.

Houston was found on February 11th last year in her bathtub at the Beverly Hills Hilton. It seems when her body was found, she was covered with a sheet which Nutall, responding to the incident, removed in order to make comments about her appearance. The 48-year-old singer was found submerged in her hotel room bathtub, the L.A. Coroner later ruled she had died of accidental drowning with cocaine use and heart disease listed as contributing factors. 

Detective Sergeant Terry Nutall arrived at the scene and removed the sheet which covered Houston's naked corpse. The report states that he made several inappropriate remarks concerning Houston's appearance. The reports states that Nutall violated what other officers responding to the scene had though appropriate when dealing with Houston's body. The documents state that the sheet covering her body was in order to "prevent contamination of potential DNA evidence" and to "preserve the dignity of the deceased." However, in direct violation with this basic, and honourable, attempt to protect Houston's dignity Nutall "for no legitimate law enforcement inquiry, investigative, or other proper and legal purpose" removed the sheet from her body. The document states that Nutall, having pulled the sheet down "to an area below the pubic region", proceeded to make comments such as Houston "looked attractive for a woman of her age and current state" and "Damn, she's still looking good, huh?"

Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston in London in 2009.

A complaint was initially made by Weir shortly after the incident and he spoke to his superiors on the subject. However, instead of taking disciplinary action out on Nutall, Weir was removed from his position. The claim that Weir suffered any harassment as a result of his complaint has been fervently denied by the L.A. Police Department.

A spokesperson for the department attempted to justify Nutall's actions, claiming "it is appropriate for a responding detective sergeant to briefly examine the body upon arriving to a scene like that", as reported by the LA Times. Furthermore there appears to be little the police are willing to do in reopening the matter, they promise only to investigate the comments Nutall allegedly made. The police, as reported by the spokesperson,  will not reopen the inquiry into Houston's death.

Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston performing in Sydney in 2010.