Family Demands Justice After They Say Cosmetic Buttocks Injection Killed Young Mother
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A family is calling for justice after they say a young mother died following a cosmetic procedure.
Now, the NYPD says it is looking into what happened and who is responsible.
A makeshift memorial continues to grow outside Latesha Bynum's childhood home in the Bronx.
Luanda Villafane saw Bynum and her two young daughters a few days before the fatal procedure.
"It's such a tragedy," she said. "She was a very well-respected woman in the community."
Bynum's brother told CBS2 the family is furious over the botched procedure she underwent on July 15 for buttocks augmentation. He said she had procedures done in the past and believed it would be safe.
But she died after getting it done.
"At the end of the day, my sister needs some type of justice, period," Tymel Bynum said.
The family's lawyer says the mother of two fell prey to a man who marketed himself as an expert.
The lawyer claims the phony doctor used a Grammercy Park Dunkin Donuts as his waiting room, and that a fake nurse greeted her. The attorney claims the man had a pattern of injecting unsuspecting women with "silicone poison into his patients' buttocks and/or thighs."
Detectives confirmed the person who performed the procedure was not a licensed doctor.
Police said it was done in a residential building on East 21st Street, where they found surgical supplies and a drug that numbs the skin.
"We have everybody identified who were players in this," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. "She went willingly. She had heard of this location from another friend of hers who had it done in February."
The attorney general's office said there is no record of any complaints at the address. However, Adam Attia, who lives in the building next door, said he isn't surprised it was the scene.
"Everything else is young professionals or older people that have lived here quite a long time," he said. "This is a little bit more eclectic."
Two hours after the procedure, Bynum called 911 complaining of chest pains and dizziness.
"She went to the hospital and couldn't breathe, and whatever was in her went to her head," her brother said. "She was brain dead and she had zero chance to basically come back from it."
Bynum was put on life support and died last Thursday.
Her family is now making funeral arrangements, and their attorney says they're filing a $1 billion lawsuit. Meanwhile, happy birthday balloons have been added to the memorial, as she would have turned 32 two days ago.
Police said they're awaiting results from an autopsy and arrests could be made soon.
