FAIRMONT — The death of an inmate who died Monday afternoon while trying to escape custody at the Fairmont Police Department is being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation, the police chief said Tuesday.
Fairmont police called in the SBI to investigate after Stephen Preston Lewis, 56, fell to his death about 4:30 p.m. at the police headquarters building, Chief Jon Edwards said.
The SBI was asked to investigate on Monday afternoon, said Chris Laws, SBI assistant director.
Lewis was being questioned by a Fairmont detective and a Robeson County Sheriff’s Office detective regarding a series thefts that occurred in the Fairmont area over a “period of time,” Edwards said. Lewis was to be charged in connection to the thefts.
Sheriff’s deputies had taken Lewis to Fairmont from the Robeson County jail, where he was being released after making bail on unrelated charges, Edwards said. Once in Fairmont he was questioned and then the detectives “started doing paperwork,” according to the chief.
That’s when Lewis ran from the interrogation room and climbed up a fire escape, Edwards said. He fell before officers could catch him.
“It’s probably a 20-foot or so fall,” Edwards said. “He sustained head injuries.”
Lewis was taken to a hospital in Florence, S.C., where he was pronounced dead.
Both detectives were shaken up by the incident, Edwards said.
“The officers knew him and knew his family,” he said. “They went to school with him.”
Neither detective has been disciplined for the incident because neither detective was directly responsible for what happened to Lewis, Edwards said.
“It’s not like an officer-involved shooting,” the chief said.
