The feeling of losing your child is very extreme and inexplicable; but to see a photo of their dead body on the internet is even more unsettling.

On August 8th, Kim Staton learned her 28-year-old son Omar Raham was found dead in his Pine Lawn home of an apparent drug overdose. Adding fuel to the fire, a photo of her dead son’s body pictured next to a smirking police officer who gave a thumbs up, was obtained by KMOV-TV and made its rounds online.

The insensitive photo shows a blurred cop’s face as he bent down, smirking next to Raham’s body, also blurred. The cop of the North County Police Cooperative was also holding his hand with blue gloves and signaling a thumbs up to the camera.

When asked if she could imagine any reasonable explanation for the officer’s pose in the photo, Staton told reporters, “No, because when they come to a call, they’re supposed to be there to help and protect, not doing what he was doing with thumbs up and a smirk on his face.” Her attorney, Antonio Romanucci, added, “It’s hideous. The implications of this photograph are just astronomical. I have seen thousands and thousands of forensic photographs, I have never seen a staged photograph of an officer next to a deceased body.”

North County Co-op Chief Tim Swope refused to go on-camera, saying that they were conducting an internal and external investigation into “the totality” of the situation. The chief reportedly declined repeated offers to show him the photo.

Romanucci says he plans to file a lawsuit against the police department to retrieve more information

Source: FOX4|PHOTOCREDIT: Getty, Twitter