OK, I can admit when I might be wrong
ROS sent an update on former cadet Richard King who was thumped by Patti LaBelle’s bodyguards. I wasn’t wrong about the clueless college student yapping on his cellphone and not paying attention to where he was going, or what he was doing. Those people just piss me off. But the Houston Police Department’s report is just wrong. Anyone with two eyes can see this is not what went down on the video tape;
In their report, HPD characterizes King as a suspect who was harassing LaBelle and her entourage, even though the surveillance video shows otherwise. With no arrests and no charges filed against King, Houston police called West Point, where King was a senior. As a result, West Point kicked King out and he will not graduate with his class.
The video and my initial post is here. If that report is what West Point used to base their decision to suspend King, they were misinformed by a star-struck police department.
Meanwhile, West Point has not told us whether it has reviewed the surveillance video. They did issue a statement saying it took appropriate action in punishing King. King says he’s bound by the academy’s code of conduct to meet that punishment, which includes up to 18 months in active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. He’s still waiting for his deployment orders.
Yeah, any other college student gets their Jello-pudding pops privileges pulled for an hour – a West Point cadet gets sent to war. The Houston PD should be ashamed of themselves for allowing the fairy dust to get in their eyes.
Category: Legal
I think it would be perfectly reasonable for King to get told exactly who who decided to place the call to West Point, who did call West Point, who they talked to at West Point, under what authority they placed the call, and what they said.
It gets worse-now LaBelle is coutnersuing King here saying he attaked her and her entourage!
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8216046
I hope this kid gets FU money from both LaBelle and the HPD.
(Argh-no spell check edits allowed.)
Okay, I’m lost. How does West Point kick out a cadet and then send him to war??
You’re a tad behind on all this, Jonn. West Point’s statement issued 8 June 2011 “The incident on March 11, 2011 involving former cadet Richard King in Houston, Texas, is unfortunate, and we regret any personal harm. There are clearly some misconceptions about the Houston incident and his subsequent separation from the U.S. Military Academy. Some viewers of the airport video have interpreted what appears to be an unprovoked assault as the reason for his separation. The U.S. Military Academy’s chain of command reviewed former cadet King’s complete record of performance and conduct over his 47 months. Based on that review, he was separated. In accordance with his legal obligation, he was directed to serve the nation as a Soldier in the U.S. Army with an opportunity to compete for re-admission to West Point in the future. In accordance with Army regulations, many details that could clarify the basis for his separation are not releasable. All U.S. Military Academy cadets are held to a high standard for their personal conduct at all times.” https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=217531218267447 While I find LaBelle and crews’ actions criminal and most worthy of prosecution… I’m inclined to agree with the following comment: “Reading between the lines I would guess that Cadet King had been written up for booze a time or two before this and was on his last chance. His lawyer says King had ‘a few’ that night but wasn’t impaired, but I would surmise that the com had drawn a line and it was crossed when King had ‘a few’ in-flight drinks. That is speculation of course, but a far less outrageous idea than the bizarrely popular theory that the Academy is overtly dismissing a firstie unfairly as some sort of kowtow to a celebrity.” Have you viewed the long version of the tape? That begins with King stumbling out from behind the bus and staggering along, weaving and nearly tripping long before he even reaches the curb/limo? To be clear, the beat-down was a travesty. The act of thugs, not a professional security detail. But as for King’s dismissal from West Point? I’m not… Read more »
Either former Cadet King was a true foul-up, or LaBelle called her congressperson for some power play. Likely both are true.
Main point being: professional bodyguards don’t waste their employer’s money and time delivering a beat-down.
LaBelle’s reputation is now permanently stained, and if the former cadet takes a lethal lead injection in Afghanistan, folks will never let her forget her role in getting him there.
PN: USMA cadets sign a contract and are in the Regular Army. They incur an active duty obligation if they leave West Point for any reason.
#6 I think that’s what sickens me most about this whole thing, Dave. This has become a non-story already. Nobody seems to give a damn about LaBelle or her gang of punks. She went on to receive her “Lifetime Achievement Award” from BET as scheduled, without a peep of protest:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/26/entertainment/main20074568.shtml
There was a short-lived effort on Facebook to apply pressure to the powers that be in Houston to hold her and her “security” responsible for their actions. It’s fizzled. Nobody seems to give a damn.
Thank you, DaveO. I wondered about that part…
#9 PN: you’re welcome!
#8 Kristie: it is enough that she deigned take commercial conveyance. We should not intrude more upon the nobility.
#7 DaveO,
Yep, we had a former Cadet come to my unit when we were still in Baghdad. He was a third-year (I think) but had gotten injured somehow. Rather than get held back a year (it’s been a long time, but from what I remember his injury precluded him finishing his third year. Funny thing was we got a new 2LT shortly afterward that knew him from USMA. He was squared away and the PL had nothing but good words about him, so I guess his story was true.
As a freshly minted 2LT I happen to have a few friends from the academy. They both had a very different opinion of this cadet. Where it appears from the video that he did nothing wrong, neither of the two individuals believe it was unprovoked. They also told me that he had a record for alcohol infractions, and this was the final straw. I don’t like to be the bearer of bad news but there is always another side to the story.
Whether or not he was stumbling along or barely standing at all, the video clearly shows Il Diva’s henchmen (one of who is her spawn) accosting him from behind and going full-out gangsta on him threefold.
Had he had prior infractions? Who knows? Maybe he had. He was, however, in control of his faculties enough to be walking and talking on his cell without the customary drunken beeline, as seen in the video.
And this: “In their report, HPD characterizes King as a suspect who was harassing LaBelle and her entourage, even though the surveillance video shows otherwise. With no arrests and no charges filed against King, Houston police called West Point, where King was a senior. As a result, West Point kicked King out and he will not graduate with his class.”
You have got to be shitting me. No arrest, no charges, no graduation, no bueno.
Too bad Army CID can’t or *won’t* step forward and investigate this. Wait, never mind its all civilians “Gimme my 40hr union work week and I’m gone” now…
Okay, let’s not go nanners. He MIGHT spend time in theater. 1. All cadets, US Community College and ROTC, sign an enlistment contract upon entering their Junior year. If they fail to meet commissioning requirements (i.e. Graduation) they can be required to serve out the terms of their enlistment, at the needs of the Army.
King will go to Basic and AIT–of whatever MOS the Army chooses for him. He will then go to a unit. So, that’s a good six months from now. Given that everyone is supposed to turn out the lights when we leave Baghdad in December, the chances of him going there are very small to nil. He MIGHT end up in Afghanistan, depending on whether or not Captain Gutsycall.com needs poll numbers boosted. IF he does, it will be because after his training period, he is assigned to a unit that is deployed or deploying.
It isn’t like he’s walking off the Plain and onto the Plane.
And yes, King was a fuckup.
Chuck has it right, especially the last comment.
I don’t think the deployment aspect is what has people up in arms. He may very well be a fuck up and he may very well have been warned that one more incident would get him unassed, regardless of fault. What I give a damn about is that the Academy was misinformed grossly about the events concerning this, not to mention Il Diva’s thugs’ treatment and lack of punishment. One only has to watch either version of the tape to see that the message sent by HPD to the Academy was completely untruthful, and the Academy’s first statement admits to basing its actions on that. Its second statement contradicts entirely the first.
Was he a shitbag? Yes, no, maybe. The fact remains that he was given das boot because of an incident where he was physically assaulted beyond the realm of “are-you-fucking-serious”.
Arrest warrants issued today. Via Drudge. …
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8239612
“We were the first ones with these charging documents on Friday afternoon. We can tell you LaBelle’s hairdresser and bodyguard have warrants out for their arrest; both are charged with assault even though the original story to police painted a much different picture.”
[…] at West Point August 18th, 2011 Cadet Richard King from the West Point class of 2011, but was suspended last Spring when he was beaten by Patti LaBelle’s body guards has been reinstated according to a press […]