Usher's Ex-Wife Loses Custody Battle For Sons After Pool Accident (PHOTOS)

Usher and his ex-wife appeared make peace in court on Friday after a bitter custody war over their two sons. The singer gave tearful Tameka Foster Raymond a consoling hug moments after she lost her bid to get temporary primary custody of Usher V, five, and Naviyd, four, in a hearing in Atlanta. She sought legal action after the pair's older child got caught in a pool drain while in the care of the Grammy winner's aunt on Monday. She alleged the children were in a 'dangerous environment'.

But the judge described the incident as an 'awful accident' and dismissed the case.

The courtroom showdown between the former couple took a surprising turn, with Usher extending the proverbial olive branch to a distraught Raymond by embracing her. The 34-year-old RnB star tentatively approached, before placing his hand on her shoulder. More pictures after cut...

Raymond - whose 11-year-old son Kile, from a previous relationship, tragically died in a jetski accident last year - pulled her in for an embrace of apparent sympathy after what has been a very stressful week for the two parents.

Before dismissing the case, Fulton County Superior Court Judge John Goger said he wasn't certain anyone really could have done anything to prevent the accident. But he also advised Usher to keep his ex-wife well advised of his whereabouts and who's taking care of the children.

The pair's boy fell to the bottom of the pool and became stuck in the drain on Monday, according to an Atlanta police report. A housekeeper tried unsuccessfully to free him. A contractor doing work at the home pulled the boy from the pool and performed CPR. The boy was 'conscious, alert and breathing' when emergency medical workers arrived, police said. He was still in the hospital Friday.

'They're just assessing him,' Raymond told reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing. 'There is a lot we don't know. I mean you can't - it's only been a few days so we're very thankful that he's obviously alive but we still have to observe him and make sure that everything is OK.'

The filing had said the boy 'suffered a near-death accident' while left unsupervised at Usher's home when the singer was out of town. Contrary to what Raymond claimed, Usher's aunt was poolside watching the children when the older child became stuck in the drain, and Usher was at a music studio one highway exit away, said the singer's lawyer John Mayoue.

Raymond used the episode to revisit the custody battle and gain publicity, Mayoue said.
Raymond, who is a hair and wardrobe stylist, was emotional during her testimony, at one point sobbing so hard that she had to step down from the witness stand to regain her composure.

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