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It has also been reported that reporters broke into the morgue where Left Eye's body is held and opened the coffin and was taking pictures! What is wrong with the world today?!?! I love me some TLC and that is just soo disrespectful to do to the dead. Let her rest in peace!
RIP Left Eye! You are surely missed!
I just found the whole story:
Left Eye" Funeral Services Set
by Josh Grossberg
Apr 29, 2002, 11:00 AM PT
The body of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes is on its way home to Atlanta, where funeral services will take place Thursday.
According to her publicist, police in Honduras released the remains of the TLC star to her brother, who is currently bringing her home to Atlanta. Lopes' family has scheduled a private wake for Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, new details have surfaced about another car accident involving Lopes three weeks before her death--which resulted in the death of a 10-year-old boy--as well as gruesome photos of Lopes' body that have now surfaced on the Internet.
Lopes was killed Thursday night after she lost control of the Mitsubishi Montero SUV she was driving just outside the city of Jutiapa.
According to investigators, the rapper-singer was coming from an herbal healing center in the city of La Ceiba and attempted to pass another car on a two-lane highway when an oncoming truck forced her to swerve to the left. The vehicle, carrying eight passengers, ran off the road, flipped over several times and struck two trees.
Lopes, the so-called "crazy" member of the Grammy-winning Atlanta-based R&B trio, suffered fractures and internal injuries. She died at the scene.
The other passengers survived the crash and were hospitalized. All are expected to recover.
Honduran Police cited speeding as the cause of the accident, though Police Inspector John Cole said investigators are still trying to determine exactly how fast she was driving.
An autopsy was reportedly scheduled to be performed before her body was shipped back to Atlanta Monday for burial.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Lopes was involved in a car accident April 6 that resulted in the death of a 10-year-old Honduran boy. The singer's personal assistant, Stephanie Patterson, was behind the wheel (Lopes was a passenger) when she struck and killed Bayron Isaul Fuentes after he stepped off the curb to chase after his sisters and brothers.
The accident was not reported to local police and no autopsy was performed. Patrick James Bennett, a lawyer representing Lopes in a number of legal matters in Honduras who confirmed the story to the Journal-Constitution, said that since the child purportedly "jumped" in front of their car, the family declined to press charges.
Bennett added that Lopes paid about $3,700 for the boy's medical care and funeral, and also gave the family about $925.
"[Lopes and Patterson] did everything that was possible to be done. They paid the expenses and the funeral, and the family was contented. They didn't call the police," he said.
Lopes publicist Jay Marose confirmed the accident, but noted that in no way did "Lisa try to use her money to buy her assistant out of a problem." He said Lopes and her assistant did "more than what they were supposed to do" to help the boy, including making sure he got to a better hospital nearby.
"The basic rundown of some of the facts are correct but the spirit of the [press report] is wildly off base," said Marose. "It's kind of being framed that they were ugly Americans and they paid somebody to get away with it, but that's not the case at all."
Marose says the family expressed amazement that Lopes and Patterson even stopped after the accident. "In Honduras, people don't even stop," he said, adding that the boy's family was hesitant to accept anything because of local customs.
Lopes' family, meanwhile, has been horrified to hear that photos taken of Lopes' body have turned up in local Honduran newspapers as well as on the Internet.
"She was dropped off at the morgue by her brother and her assistant, who personally had to physically bring her there in a coffin and place her in a refrigerated room," said Marose. "Within an hour, someone from the U.S. Embassy went there and found 15 to 20 reporters in the morgue shooting photographs and video. They removed the coffin, removed the lid, and tilted it on its side to get a better vantage point."
Marose said the family is "disgusted" and "horrified" and has called on the media not to print the photos. The family also said it disapproves of attempts by people to profit from her death and sell footage of the crash site.
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