R&B Legend Patti LaBelle Countersues Former West Point Cadet Richard King, Who Accused Her, Son Zuri Edwards & Bodyguard of Airport "Beatdown"

Soul legend Patti LaBelle has filed a counter-suit against former West Point cadet Richard King, who accused her of ordering beatdown at Houston airport because he "stood too close to her luggage."

Soul legend Patti LaBelle has lobbed a counter-suit Richard King's way. You know, he is the former West Point cadet who accused Patti LaBelle of siccing her bodyguard on him for allegedly "standing too close to her luggage." We at the Hinterland Gazette know there are two sides to every story, but we believe in Patti LaBelle, who has never been embroiled in any scandals in her 50 years in the music business. Her countersuit alleges King addressed her in a "racially and sexually offensive way." The video has no audio and King claims he had a few drinks on the plane. But really, does an inebriated person every say they are drunk? No.

LaBelle's lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Houston, contends Richard King started the fight that sent him to the hospital with a concussion by punching Zuri Edwards, LaBelle's son and limousine driver, in the face.

King, 23, became embroiled in the altercation after he arrived a Bush Intercontinental Airport's Terminal C on March 11. The episode, much of it captured on security video tape, shows the Houston man being hit, pushed and shoved by two men and a woman in the terminal's passenger pickup area.

In early June, King filed a lawsuit against the singer and her associates asking for actual and punitive damages. LaBelle's counter-suit, filed late last week, claims self-defense and, in turn, seeks actual damages and litigation costs from King. Source

We will wait for this case to be tried in a court of law. We refuse to throw Patti LaBelle under a bus for all the good she has done and the way she has held her head high throughout her career as an entertainer, social activist and business woman. All I know is, when you diss somebody's mother, you're asking for trouble. Ms. LaBelle is being represented by Houston lawyer Geoffrey Bracken.