VIDEO of Man Beaten Down by Patti LaBelle Bodyguards
Richard King is now suing Houston native and soul singer Patti LaBelle for responsibility in connection with the aggravated assault on him by her bodyguards.
He claims that she ordered her bodyguards to attack him for 'standing too close to her baggage'.
King, 23, a senior at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, says he was just waiting for relatives to pick him up and he had no idea who Patti LaBelle was or that he was causing any threat to anyone's luggage.
Rolling down the window of her window, the singer “gave a command to her bodyguards” who “sprang into action.”
In security footage, provided by his legal representatives, King can be seen in close proximity of LaBelle’s limo...and the entirety of the video is powerful and not for the faint-of-heart.
It shows several large men approach King and start shoving him. King attempts to deflect their attack, but he is quickly overwhelmed by the bodyguard's blows. He falls against the curb partition pole, reeling and doubled-over in pain. They loom over him as his body heaves and struggles.
It gets more pathetic to see a dozen people witness this violence and do nothing.
Then, more disgusting when you realize the police are taking their sweet time to pose and take cell phone pics of them with the 'Godmother of Soul'. Right over the man's pools of blood. Real classy.
The story from LaBelle's 'camp' (according to the Houston Chronicle) LaBelle’s son and limo driver, Zuri Edwards, told police that King was verbally abusive and struck him after King was requested to move.
HPD Spokesman Vincent Senties told us that witnesses told police that "a male by the name of Richard King struck a limo driver in the face and then he was pushed to the ground."
King is seeking unspecified damages against LaBelle, the bodyguards, the airport, and a taxi dispatcher.
In the footage, it does not appear to that King instigated the assault.
King, dressed in a yellow shirt, is seen talking on his cell phone a few feet from a limo, occupied by LaBelle, and an SUV.
At one point, one of LaBelle's guards confronts King; another (extremely large) man appears, and the two beat him back toward a pillar as a woman swoops in out of nowhere. (Action starts about the 1:30 mark of the video.)
Here's a real money shot: Houston police gather on the scene, just feet from a pool of King's blood, and take photos with LaBelle, who graciously exits the limo.
After Houston police spoke with West Point officials, Raley said, King was booted out of the academy for one year and is required to serve as an enlisted man on active duty. He will likely be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Afterwards, King may apply for readmission to West Point and, if accepted, the earliest he could graduate is 2013, Raley said. "All he remembers is talking on the phone to his brother, and then he was attacked," Raley said. He also said that the injuries from the attack prohibited him from playing football for the West Point team -- Raley said King was to be a starting defensive back.
