Richard King, a 23-year-old West Point cadet from Houston, had filed a lawsuit against legendary singer Patti LaBelle (real name: Patricia Edwards), her bodyguards (her son, Zuri Edwards, Efren Holme, and "Jane Doe") and Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport for assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and defamation after he was viciously beaten by the singer’s bodyguards for standing too close to her luggage. The incident happened on March 11. Richard, who on Spring Break and Miss Patti was in town play the L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort, crossed paths at the airport. Miss Patti jumped into her awaiting limo, while her bodyguards escorted her two large carts of luggage. According to the lawsuit, Richard was standing near the luggage, with his back to Miss Patti's limo, talking on the phone, when the singer apparently decided he was too close to the bags, she rolled down her window and ordered her bodyguards to attack Richard. They knocked him down and punched him in the face. After the initial attack, the lawsuit alleges the two guards came back, accompanied by a third guard, and punched and shoved him until he fell and hit the back of his head on a concrete pillar. All of this was going while Miss Patti did not try to break up the fight. Instead, she "watched the vicious assault with approval" from her limo. According to the suit (which you can read, below), "LaBelle is hot-tempered herself, and has a reputation for both inciting and participating in acts of violence in public." (Sidebar: Remember when she stopped a show in Atlanta to put the theatre on blast!?! Or the time she went in on American Idol?)Richard suffered a severe head injury, blood loss, deep lacerations and contusions from the attack. Miss Patti remained in the car during the altercation or came see how Richard was doing before he was carried away in an ambulance. She only exited the limo when the police arrived -- to stand "triumphantly" over his "pooled blood," for photographs. The bodyguards have a different story. They say Richard (who admits he had a few drinks on the plane) was belligerent and was harrassing Miss Patti. The limo driver says Richard then punched him in the face and when he tried to defend himself, Richard fell and hit his head on the curb. The airport surveillance footage, however, seems to back up Richard' story. The Houston police has yet to file criminal charges -- but that will probably all change.
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