LaBelle Son Testifies For Bodyguard At Texas Trial

HOUSTON (AP) – The son of singer Patti LaBelle says he was hit in the face by a man in a Houston airport terminal after the man shouted racial slurs at his mother.

Sources reported that Zuri Edwards testified Friday in the misdemeanor assault trial of his mother’s bodyguard, Efrem Holmes.

Holmes beat Richard King in the Bush Intercontinental Airport terminal in 2011. Holmes’ attorneys say he was defending LaBelle and Edwards from King’s onslaught.

King had a blood-alcohol level of .28 percent, almost 3½ times Texas’ legal threshold for intoxication. He’s testified he doesn’t remember what happened the day of the airport incident.

King has filed a lawsuit against the singer and Holmes. LaBelle countersued.

The Grammy-winning entertainer testified Thursday that King scared her when he staggered toward her limousine.