Posted on 06/03/2011 3:14:06 PM PDT by grundle
Never come between the "Godmother of Soul" and her luggage. That's the lesson a West Point cadet says he learned at Houston airport when he charges Patti LaBelle's security guards roughed him up.
Richard King, 23, is suing LaBelle over the incident, captured on surveillance video last March 11 at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
King, a Houston resident who is a senior at the military academy, had come home for spring break when he wandered close to LaBelle's limousine. He was talking to his brother on his cellphone when her bodyguards "sprang into action," according to the civil suit he filed this week against the singer and her entourage.
"Apparently defendant LaBelle believed King was standing too close to her (no doubt expensive) luggage, even though he was oblivious to her presence," the lawsuit says. "LaBelle lowered the window of her limousine and gave a command to a trio of bodyguards. " The suit says LaBelle "watched the vicious assault, with approval, from her limousine."
The video shows King being punched and falling against a concrete pillar. He tries three times to get up and finally moves away from the scene. After an ambulance takes him away, the video shows Houston cops posing with LaBelle for a photo. Blood is seen on the ground nearby.
King, who suffered a concussion, has no memory of the incident. "I remember waking up the next morning with staples in my head," he said. He is "shocked" when he watches the video. "I've never been in a fight in my life," he says.
West Point has taken disciplinary action against King after they were notified of the incident by Houston cops, Raley says. He is being busted to private and deployed to active duty. He had been scheduled to graduate in December with the rank of second lieutenant.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I hope she loses millions for it.
Well, there it is. The cadet was expelled from West Point over this incident. Just amazing that this can happen over a cop’s say-so without criminal or civil charges.
Did you notice the way the fat a-hole stood over him while he was supine?
Given what I have heard about her and the people she surrounds herself with, I have a pretty good guess as to what kind of talk was coming out of his pie-hole.
In a just world, he would get all Patti's money.
As it is, he'll probably be charged with racism.
New Attitude needed?
It doesn’t surprise me one bit..People like that are savages and the people like her that stand by and let the savage hurt this boy should be put in jail along with the savage..I hope the boy sues the old black cow for a lot of money...
The cops posed with the singer for pictures as seen on the video. These the same guys who wrote the police report and will testify at trial?
Hope the victim cleans up in court. Enough of this.
It looks like to me that he was standing there, got shoved, pushed back then had his bell rung against the pillar.
To be busted back to private and enlisted? Sue Patti Labelle and her thugs back to the stone age.
Earlier FR post today: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2729341/posts
Hopefully Patti will lose her supersized backside over this assault. That is one pathetic video tape.
“The cadet was expelled from West Point..”
The article said “demoted” so I guess that is sort of the same thing. I am wondering why West Point would do that? To stop a man’s career because he was beaten up or because he had a few drinks on the plane?
Never heard of her.
BS meter quivering like crazy on this story.
BS meter quivering like crazy on this story.
I can’t wait for Omoslem to comment, announcing “The cadet acted stupidly.”
Technically cadets/midshipmen are considered junior officers. So yes, getting expelled after the start of your junior year and being required by contract to serve as an enlisted man is a defacto demotion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.