Via NESN:
The Philadelphia Eagles won't have another jailbird on their roster after all. The team's backup running back Dion Lewis had the criminal charges against him dismissed in court on Monday.
According to Bryan Fitzgerald of the Times Union, Dion and his brother Lamar Lewis were both charged with a felony of falsely reporting a fire and a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment during a July 8 incident at a Hampton Inn hotel in Albany, NY.
Police said that the two brothers were trying to knock down the glass doors to the hotel's lobby and pulled a fire alarm after they were not allowed inside by hotel security. According to the Lewis brothers' attorneys, the two were coming back to the hotel from a night of drinking and were locked out without their room keys.
A member of the hotel staff called 911, saying the men were banging on the doors, "trying to break them down," and that Lamar Lewis was seen in the lobby with a small knife. In the 911 call in the video below via the Union Times, the Hampton Inn employee told police to "get here right away."
Upon arriving on scene with guns drawn, police handcuffed and pepper sprayed the two brothers, before dragging them outside. According to the Times Union, Police spokesman Steve Smith said officers used the spray because they believed the brothers were trying to break into the hotel while in possession of a knife.
Smith said that the incident is being reviewed, but there was nothing to indicate the officers acted inappropriately. District Attorney David Soares said he believed the officers reacted the way they did because of the description of the scene from the 911 call. Neither of the Lewis attorneys commented on the use of force by police.
The two brothers could have faced up to four years in prison if convicted, but will go free as long as they remain out of trouble for six months. It was shown that the two men never pulled a fire alarm, and were not trying to break into the hotel but were just locked out of their room.
Check out the video of the arrest and the audio of the 911 call in the videos below, via the Times Union.
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July 25, 2012
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