- NEW: Beverly Hills spokesman says detective had a reason to examine Houston's body
- Beverly Hills Sgt. Brian Weir reveals allegation in labor complaint
- Weir was called to Whitney Houston's hotel room after she was found dead
- A detective said, "Damn, she's still looking good, huh?" after pulling back sheet, Weir says
Los Angeles (CNN) -- A police officer removed a sheet covering Whitney Houston's naked corpse and remarked, "Damn, she's still looking good, huh?" according to another officer at the scene.
The accusation against the Beverly Hills Police detective was revealed in a labor dispute filing made last week by Brian Weir, who was the senior patrol sergeant called to Houston's hotel room after she was found dead in a bathtub on February 11, 2012.
Weir claims the Beverly Hills police chief and others retaliated against him when he complained about the alleged actions of Det. Sgt. Terry Nutall at the death scene on the fourth floor of the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
"We will be looking into the allegations made in this claim, but we were not aware of any inappropriate behavior or comments made by any officer at the scene," Beverly Hills Police spokesman Lt. Lincoln Hoshino told CNN Wednesday.
No formal complaint was ever filed with the police department by Weir or anyone else, Hoshina said. "How can we retaliate against him for reporting misconduct if we weren't aware of any misconduct?" he said.
A new book of photographs, "Whitney: A Tribute to an Icon," was released last week.
"This was just shot in the bedroom," said Randee St. Nicholas, who curated the project and took many of the pictures in the book. "What I wanted to do with this shoot -- and I'm so happy I had the time to do it -- was just give a well-rounded perspective of her."
"She's not smiling and she's not dancing, which is what she did all day and every day. And when you're trying to shoot her, she's always dancing and singing, which is really fun. But every now and then, you want to get a more serious shot, just a moment where Whitney is more introspective. So that's what that setup was about."
"She did everything she needed to do to make it special," sister-in-law Pat Houston remembers. "The camera loved her and she loved the camera. And she had such an iconic appeal with the beauty and her style that it was amazing. And to go along with that phenomenal voice, she was just absolutely amazing. Didn't have to do too much, just step in front of the camera. And once that happened, that was it."
"Fiji water was her water of choice," Pat Houston said. "She loved Twix. She was a candy buff. Twix and M&Ms. Of course it didn't matter about the color. Just make sure her water was there; she could survive."
This photo was taken by during the music video shoot for "Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)," which was directed by Forest Whitaker. "In between them shooting, I set a black backdrop and pulled her to the side and shot this," St. Nicholas said. "Of course, she was listening to music. She loved music."
Houston drowned face down in a hotel tub of "extremely hot water" about 12 inches deep, the final autopsy report on the singer's death said. The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Houston's death on the eve of the 2012 Grammy Awards was an accidental drowning with the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use" as contributing factors.
Whitney Houston's storied career: A regal rise, a tragic fall
Weir's complaint, filed on September 11 with California's labor department, said he covered Houston's body with a sheet "to prevent contamination or potential DNA and other potential evidence on the body" and to "preserve the dignity of the remains."
It said that Nutall -- who was assigned to investigate fraud, forgery and auto burglaries -- "knelt beside and leaned over the decedent, removed the sheet and/or other covering from the body of the decedent to an area below the pubic region of the decedent's body and came in close proximity to touching the body of the decedent while making inappropriate comments to the effect and substance that the decedent 'looked attractive for a woman of her age and current state' and 'Damn, she's still looking good, huh?'"
Nutall "did properly respond to the scene," the police spokesman said. "It is appropriate for a responding detective sergeant to briefly examine the body upon arriving to a scene like that."
Weir, who had been in the "coveted positions" of sergeant with the SWAT and K-9 units, claims he told Beverly Hills officials about the incident, which he said he believed violated state and federal laws.
After complaining to his superiors and others in the Beverly Hills government, Weir was removed from his "coveted positions" of sergeant with the SWAT and K-9 units, denied promotion to other positions, removed from supervisory duties, denied special pay, denied training, harassed and ostracized, given inappropriate and harassing comments an/or documents, and subjected to conduct undermining his authority as a superior, the filing said. He also lost overtime pay, the filing alleged.
Whitney Houston death probe closed; 911 call released
The complaint accuses Police Chief David Snowden, Capt. Tony Lee and Nutall -- who has since been promoted to lieutenant -- of taking "reprisal actions, including acts of intimidation, restraint, coercion, discrimination, punitive, and/or disciplinary actions" against Weir.
Weir's lawyer Christopher Brizzolara is demanding economic and non-economic damages for his client, who has suffered damage to his law enforcement career and emotional stress.
Houston was last seen alive by her personal assistant in her Beverly Hilton room at about 3 p.m. that Saturday, the autopsy report said. The assistant left to run errands after telling Houston to take a bath in preparation for a pre-Grammy Awards party at the hotel that night, it said.
When the assistant returned to the locked room at 3:35 p.m., she found Houston "lying face down in the bathtub filled with water, unresponsive."
"The assistant called for her bodyguard, and together they pulled the decedent out of the bathtub," the report said.
When paramedics arrived about 10 minutes later, they moved Houston to the living room floor. At 3:55 p.m., 20 minutes after she was found by the assistant, paramedics concluded she was dead, the report said.
Houston won six Grammys and sold 170 million albums, singles and videos over her career.
In recent years, the singer's accomplishments were overtaken by her struggles with drug addiction.
FBI opens Whitney Houston's decades-old 'crazy' fan files
CNN's Rachel Wells and Jennifer Wolfe contributed to this report.
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