Arrest warrants out for LaBelle workers in Bush airport fracas 2 LaBelle employees charged in Bush airport fracas

Two people employed by singer Patti LaBelle have been charged with assault in a March 11 altercation with a West Point cadet at Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston police said Friday.

Efrem Holmes, 43, and Norma Harris, 63, are accused of punching and shoving Richard King, 23, in an incident that was captured on security video at the airport.

"They are not in custody at this time. We have open warrants out on them," said Victor Senties, a Houston police spokesman.

King said Holmes, a bodyguard, and Harris, the singer's personal assistant and hairdresser, assaulted him while he was talking on his cellphone in the terminal's passenger pickup area.

"Now that they have been formally charged, we have confidence that justice will be served," said John Raley, King's attorney.

A lawsuit filed in the case said King sustained a severe head injury, blood loss and deep cuts and bruises.

A representative for LaBelle could not be reached for comment.

Houston police, who later posed for pictures with the singer at the scene, said King smelled of alcohol. Raley said the cadet had a few alcoholic drinks on the flight to Houston but was not impaired.

After the episode, West Point suspended King, who was in his final year, and placed in a program that will require him to serve as an enlisted soldier for at least a year before reapplying.

Raley said he could not comment "at this time" about any hopes that West Point officials will allow his client to return now that assault charges have been filed. Academy officials could not be reached Friday.

Although King filed a lawsuit against LaBelle, her entourage and an airport employee who notified West Point about the incident, his lawyer said he didn't believe the assault charges were connected to the suit or to publicity from the video.

"They have reviewed the evidence and reached their conclusions," Raley said.

An HPD investigation is continuing, officials said.

mike.glenn@chron.com