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Lee Van Lewis Dies After Punch by Cousin
posted (April 1, 2019)
And, it was also a cousin on cousin misunderstanding that led to the death of 42 year old Lee Van Lewis.

Yesterday evening, the 8 miles resident was fishing with his relatives at the mile 12 pond on the Western Highway when Lewis and his cousin got into an altercation. According to the report, Lewis hit his cousin first and the cousin struck back, sending Lewis tumbling. He hit his head on the bumper of a vehicle that was parked there and went unconscious. He never regained consciousness and he died. Now it sounds like a freak accident but some of Lewis's relatives aren't buying that story at all. They say the relatives who were there are not disclosing the full details of what happened. We spoke to Lewis' sister this evening and she told us that all she and the family wants is the truth.

Bernadine Lewis - Sister
"There are so many conflicting stories that we have been hearing. The only thing that actually matters to me and to my entire family right now, even though some of them are really mad, I'm trying to keep them, you know. But as to the story, come out and tell us exactly what happened instead of telling us conflicting stories; this one telling us something the other one telling us something."

Courtney Weatherburne- Reporter
"What are some of those conflicting stories you guys are hearing?"

Bernadine Lewis
"Well, some say that he was fighting and he hit my cousin, which is the person they said that actually did it, and he fell and hit is head on the bumper of a pickup truck that was there which was driven by one of my other cousins as well. He wasn't responsive, they said they put him at the back of a pickup truck and wet him with some water. One of them said that he did mouth to mouth with him to try to do something but that didn't work. So, they called for the ambulance. They called one of my nephews to call his mom to tell us to go to the hospital and that is when we all did. When we went to the hospital and I reached to the body they said he was already passed. I called my sisters and my brothers and told them that he has passed so everyone went over to the hospital."

Courtney Weatherburne
"What other story or what other side of the story have you heard?"

Bernadine Lewis
"We heard about he hit him or knocked over a bowl of soup or something and then my cousin said she just saw the soup went over on the other person's hand and then he dropped and she doesn't know what happened from there. The thing is, why is everybody covering up what happened? We are all family, I am not holding anything against anyone because I know that there can be an accident. There can me a freak accident. Even if they had an altercation, I know that things can happen. So, just come out and say, 'You know what, this is what really happened to your brother and we are very sorry that it did happen. We didn't meant for it to happen.' Let us all get together and get through this because this is a very hard time for us. Actually, next Sunday should be my brother's birthday and he won't even live to see that. He is expecting a grandchild, he won't even know his grandchild either or the child won't know his grandfather."

Courtney Weatherburne
"The results of the postmortem, what did it say?"

Bernadine Lewis
"Well, they said that he got hit to the head and it splattered the blood over the brain and that is what killed him. He had no oxygen or anything whatsoever. It is just where he got hit, the postmortem didn't say where he got hit. But they know that the blood was all over the brain and that was what caused his death because then he wasn't getting any oxygen or anything like that."

Courtney Weatherburne
"Did the doctors say if his injuries was consistent with a fall or a hit to the head of a result of a fall?"

Bernadine Lewis
"They are saying a hit to the head but they are not saying that it was from the fall or what. Because, we can't say yes, he hit his head or on the bumper; we can't say yes, somebody hit him in the head- punched him- but we know that he got hit on the head. I believe that there is something that they are not telling us and we want them to be honest with us and let us know exactly what happened."

Lewis leaves 2 children behind.

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