A US debt services company has been caught using a photo of Australian life coach Justine Damond Ruszczyk, shot dead by a Minneapolis police officer, to advertise its business in an online advertisement on the Yahoo! website's homepage.
The image is of the blonde, smiling Ms Damond that has accompanied news reports since her shocking death in a Minneapolis alley last year.
The debt services company apparently used the photo without permission.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper alerted Yahoo! to the ad and it was taken down.
An image of Damon's image being used in the advertisement (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Misleading and offensive ads are not acceptable, and we expect our partners to comply with all laws, regulations and our policies," a Yahoo! spokesperson told the Star-Tribune.
"We have removed the ad from our platforms."
The Damond family's US lawyer Bob Bennett, who has filed a $US50 million civil lawsuit in Minneapolis on behalf of the family, said the use of images of people killed by police "for commercial gains on the internet and elsewhere by strangers should be condemned".
Ms Damond Ruszczyk, 40, formerly of Sydney, was at her Minneapolis home just before midnight on July 15 last year when she heard what she feared was a woman being raped nearby.
She called police and when a squad car arrived in an alley behind her house she approached it in the darkness.
Mohamed Noor, who is no longer a police officer, shot the fatal bullet across his partner and out the window at Ms Damond Ruszczyk's stomach.
Noor has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Police officer Mohamed Noor Source: City of Minneapolis
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