I personally believe if this incident had NOT been caught on tape, the cadet would have been toast. West Point wouldn’t have investigated any further than reading a police report. I truly believe that the video put the officer in a bad light and West Point as well. I can’t imagine the cadet waking up in a hospital with staples in his head and being informed that he had been demoted. My hopes is that WP will learn from this and truly investigate a situation before making a final decision. IMHO
Yeah, there are nuts out there who shoot celebs. But the curbside of an airport with all the officers around (parking nazis, TSA agents, etc.) seems like a fairly unlikely place for such an incident.
I'm not sure how close King got to HRH's limo or the conversation which took place prior to the beating. The state of intoxication of King (or lack thereof) is also irrelevant. The beating was entirely unnecessary given that, even in a worst case scenario short of King being armed (a virtual impossibility given that he just got off a flight), the burly body guards could simply have pushed or picked up King by an arm each to move him outside their artificial perimeter.
Too many celebs seem to have the idea that they are royalty even as their claim to fame is based on getting the public to look at them while, at the same time, wanting an artificial perimeter around them on those occasions when they can't avoid getting close to the same public.