Lawsuit Claims Patti Labelle Directed Her Bodyguards To Beat West Point Cadet
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The lawsuit filed this week on behalf of a West Point cadet claims Patti Labelle directed her bodyguards to beat him.
The fight outside a Houston Airport Terminal with the Philadelphia singer's entourage was caught on camera and later posted on YouTube
The cadet, 23-year-old Richard King, can be seen in a yellow sweater talking on a cell phone before, as the lawsuit claims, LaBelle's bodyguards confront and beat him because he was standing too close to LaBelle's luggage.
King was beaten bloody and taken to the hospital.
"I woke up the next morning with staples in my head and that's when it really hit me I was just like, 'Wow, what happened,'" said Richard King.
King's lawyer alleges his blood spattered on the concrete right near where LaBelle would later pose for pictures with Houston police.
"That was a really sad scene for me, to see a Houston police officer posing for a photograph with Ms. LaBelle literally standing over the blood of cadet King," King's attorney John Raley said.
Raley claims his client suffered a concussion, lingering dizziness and headaches for days.
"They're punching him in the face. They are punching him with fists," Raley said.
The West Point cadet was heading home to Houston when the fight happened on March 11.
The 67-year-old LaBelle was scheduled to perform a concert the next night in Louisiana.
Houston police report LaBelle's entourage contend King, a West Point defensive back appeared to be intoxicated, was verbally abusive and hit one of them when asked to move aside.
King denies he was intoxicated.
Houston Police reportedly did name King as the suspect in the incident, but no charges have ever been filed.
Efforts to reach Labelle's publicist for comment were unsuccessful.
Reported by Todd Quinones, CBS 3
