Patti LaBelle Sued Over Suitcase Attack

via The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper by Derek Erdman on 6/7/11

Last March, 23-year-old (now ex) West Point cadet Richard King was talking on his cellphone while standing next to some luggage outside of Houston's George H.W. Bush International Airport. What he didn't know was that he was standing next to the luggage of R&B legend Patti LaBelle, who allegedly decided that he was standing to close to the luggage. LaBelle then allegedly lowered the window of her limousine and gave the order for her bodyguards to thrash the young man.

• I'd "Love, Need and Want You" to get away from my luggage.

According to the Houston Chronicle, among other sources, King admited that he'd had some booze on the flight, and LaBelle's son says that King was belligerent. Airport surveillance footage shows King talking on his phone and then getting pushed by a bodyguard, which King then returns. Two other bodyguards appear and repeatedly punch and kick King as he stumbles into a concrete pillar, oozing what appears to be blood. Soon, a man in a blue shit & white cowboy hat arrives to check on King, who walks briskly away after spending some time on the ground. Patti LaBelle is seen shortly afterward laughing and posing for pictures with police officers.

King has filed a lawsuit which names Labelle, the three bodyguards, a taxi driver and Houston's George H.W. Bush International Airport as defendants.
Here's a link to Patti LaBelle's discography, if you'd like to make comments referring to her songs and albums. The best is yet to come!