Lewis ready to put hotel incident behind him
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Dion Lewis is ready to move on from an off-season incident which resulted in minor felony charges against him and his brother, Lamar Lewis.
The two siblings were in Albany, N.Y., on July 8 when they were locked outside the lobby of the Hampton Inn, where they were staying, and allegedly pulled the fire alarm and banged on the window after security guards would not let them inside.
Charges were dropped Monday.
“It’s a big relief,” Lewis said after the Eagles’ first full-squad practice Thursday afternoon at Lehigh University. “Just being able to come here and put that behind me and act like it never happened and just come here to work every day and work hard.”
Video of the arrest
(see story) shows Lewis and his brother being detained at gunpoint and subsequently being pepper sprayed by police. They were handcuffed and dragged out of the lobby before being taken in to custody. An audio recording of the 911 call revealed that the man who phoned law enforcement believed Lewis and his brother were attempting to break in and thought one was carrying a knife.
A dismissal of the charges resulted after no video of the two brothers committing the alleged crimes could be found.
If anything positive came out of the episode, Lewis was able to learn — the easy way — how constantly cautious he must be as a professional athlete. He knows he will be in the future.
“You just gotta be careful and just put [yourself] in a better situation,” Lewis said. “It’s behind me now, so I’m just going forward worrying about football.”
Thursday marked the first time Lewis, who reported to camp Wednesday as veterans arrived, was back on the field since the charges were dropped.
“It felt good, just getting back out here and being with the guys,” Lewis remarked. “It was a great start.”
The 5-foot-9, 195-pound running back out of Pittsburgh is expected to be LeSean McCoy’s main backup this season. He recorded just 102 rushing yards and one touchdown as a rookie, but his touches appear poised to increase this season, as head coach Andy Reid has stated he would like to lighten McCoy’s workload.
As would be anticipated, McCoy got the bulk of the snaps on Thursday. But Lewis also got his work in with the first team, getting quite a few carries and several passes thrown to him.
Practice resumes Friday morning at 8:15 a.m., and the first full-team, full-contact practice will take place in the afternoon session at 2:45 p.m. After a being closed to the public on Thursday, all fans will be welcome to attend camp Friday.
