LAPD Officer Placed On Leave for Fondling Deceased Woman’s Breasts on Body-Cam Footage

An LAPD officer is under fire after he was caught fondling a deceased woman’s breasts on body camera footage. The Los Angeles Police Department has placed the officer on leave with pay and confiscated his badge and firearm.

The disturbing incident came to light nearly two weeks ago when an officer in charge of checking footage from the body cameras picked one of the cameras at random to perform a routine check on. There, the officer discovered the startling evidence. The video was recorded during the response to a call stating that the body of a woman was found inside of a residence. Officers who arrived on the scene confirmed that the unidentified woman was deceased before one of them left to retrieve paperwork from a patrol car. The other officer stayed with the woman inside of a room. It was at that time that the unidentified officer allegedly turned off his bodycam and “inappropriately touched the woman’s body,” LAPD officials confirmed. According to sources, although the officer deactivated his camera, a two-minute buffer on the device was able to capture the incident fully.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League released a statement, “If this allegation is true, then the behavior exhibited by this officer is not only wrong, but extremely disturbing, and does not align with the values we, as police officers, hold dear and these values include respect and reverence for the deceased. This behavior has no place in law enforcement.” Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore said Thursday that he is “disgusted” by the allegations and offered an apology to the family of the woman.

“Let me first and foremost apologize to the family,” he began. “I can’t imagine the pain that comes from losing a daughter, a 27-year-old woman, who we’re still investigating the circumstances of her death. But then to have that compounded by now reports of an allegation that an officer broke that trust.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The accused officer is only being described at this time as a veteran on the police force. The family of the deceased woman has yet to release a statement.