Patti LaBelle And Son Testify In Court On Behalf Of Bodyguard Efrom Holmes In Assault Case

Patti LaBelle’s son, Zuri Edwards, testified in a Houston courtroom Thursday on behalf of one of his mother’s bodyguards, Efrom Holmes, who is currently on trial for alleged assault.

The incident occurred in March 2011 at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Texas when a West Point cadet, Richard King, approached LaBelle’s limo outside Terminal C. King, now 26, was allegedly drunk when the altercation occurred with an alcohol level of .28, well above the .08 legal limit and insists he does not remember the events of that night.

Holmes testified that King approached them, clearly drunk, and got aggravated when Holmes refused to let him into LaBelle’s car. Things quickly escalated, and a fight broke out. King fell and hit is head on a cement pillar, an injury that wound him in the hospital. King is suing Holmes and LaBelle, prompting LaBelle to file her own counter-suit against the cadet.

LaBelle, who testified on Thursday, says that King attacked her son, Edwards, punching him in the face, and that Holmes was simply doing his job when he fought back. She also claims King called her a racial slur.

“If you assault first, then you’re going to get it next. He hit my son first,” LaBelle said in court.

There is no video of the fight, but a witness testified to seeing King leave in an ambulance and there is a video of King leaving the airport.

“Nobody was trying to hit that kid. He started everything,” LaBelle said.

LaBelle’s son, who works as his mother’s manager, took the stand on Friday, echoing his mother’s statements. Edwards reportedly told the court that he felt he was in “danger” when King approached him.

Edwards elaborated, saying King was “loud, obnoxious” and claimed that King then punched him in the face.

“I am instantly struck on my face, on the right side of my face,” Edwards said.

Police who responded on the scene reported that King had been the aggressor, leading King to lose his place at Westpoint and, eventually, file suit against LaBelle and Holmes. King claims he was waiting for family to pick up him when he stood too close to LaBelle’s vehicle and was attacked without provocation.

“As I was on my way out I was on the phone waiting to be picked up by my brother and that is all I remember. I remember waking up the next morning with staples in my head. After that, I had to figure out exactly what happened,” King said of the incident.

The trial is set to wrap up sometime in the coming week.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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