NBA player Rasual Butler and wife killed in car crash

Former NBA player Rasual Butler and his wife, singer Leah LaBelle, died after Butler crashed his car on Ventura Boulevard in Hollywood early Wednesday morning.

Butler was driving a Land Rover down the 11000 block of Ventura Blvd. when he lost control of the car and hit the curb at the side of the road, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to NBC News.

Image: NBA player Rasual Butler and singer Leah LaBelle Image: NBA player Rasual Butler and singer Leah LaBelle

NBA player Rasual Butler and singer Leah LaBelle attend The Players’ Awards presented by BET at the Rio Hotel and Casino on July 19, 2015 in Las Vegas. Gabe Ginsberg / Getty Images for BET file

The car flipped twice and came to rest in a shopping center parking lot at approximately 2:25 a.m., police said.

According to NBC Los Angeles, citing police, the car Butler was in was going two or three times over the speed limit.

Butler, 38, played for a number of teams during 13 seasons in the NBA — including the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Clippers — but he finished his professional career with the San Antonio Spurs with 46 games in the 2015-16 season.

The 6-foot-7, journeyman player first came to the league when the Miami Heat drafted him in 2002. He first impressed scouts while playing college ball at La Salle University in Philadelphia.

LaBelle, 31, meanwhile, had a career as an R&B singer, finding her start on the third season of American Idol in 2003.

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