Usher keeps custody after pool accident, hugs ex-wife in court

It’s been a long week for R&B singer Usher, whose son Usher Raymond V nearly died Monday in an Atlanta pool, but it ended well for him as he kept custody of the boy and his brother, Naviyd, after an emergency hearing requested Tuesday by his ex-wife, Tameka Foster Raymond.

Usher, Raymond and Usher’s aunt Rena Oden all took the stand Friday in a Fulton County, Ga., courtroom, filling in the blanks about what was known and what was not about the Monday accident. Raymond at one point became so emotional over what could have happened to her boy that she briefly had to leave the stand.

Ultimately, Superior Court Judge John Goger sided with Usher and left the existing custody agreement intact.

In dismissing the custody motion, Goger noted that Raymond appeared to have very high standards for caregivers — she’d questioned whether Oden had a CPR certificate — and reminded her that many people leave children in the care of family members.

Goger said he wasn’t certain anyone could have prevented the accident Monday, in which little Usher jumped in the pool after a toy and became stuck in a drain at the bottom. The boy was eventually pulled from the water and given CPR by a contractor working at the home, after his aunt, a housekeeper and another contractor tried unsuccessfully to free him.

Goger also suggested to Usher that “in the future you would be well advised to keep your former spouse advised about your whereabouts and who is taking care of the kids,� after it came up during the hearing that Raymond rarely knew those details.

After the hearing, Usher hugged his ex-wife on his way out of the courtroom.

The singer in 2012 won primary custody of the two boys they have together, following a years-long battle -- the two split in 2008 and were divorced in 2009 -- that ended shortly after Raymond’s son and Usher’s stepson Kile Glover, 11, died. The boy, whom Usher had helped raise since he was 4, was involved in a personal-watercraft accident.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.ALSO:

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