Local Twist to "Mug Shots Of The Year" List

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – A combination of “at least 15 beers” and some really, really bad decisions got Randy Lewis arrested in October and landed him in jail for the next two years. But it was the T-shirt Lewis wore the night he was booked at the Sullivan County jail that made him famous.

The shirt asked people to “Buy This Dad a Beer.”

Lewis, 44 of Honaker Drive in Bristol, Tenn., was arrested Oct. 5 and charged with seven criminal offenses after he let his 10-year-old son drive the family van home from a day of drinking.

His story and a mug shot of him wearing the T-shirt quickly made its way across the country’s news outlets and caught the eye of staff at the Smoking Gun, a publication that’s posted mug shots on their Web site since 1997.

The Smoking Gun ranked Lewis’ picture fifth out of the 20 pictures featured on its 2008 Mug Shots of the Year list.

Other pictures in the Smoking Gun’s top 5 include a Las Vegas man who was wearing silver paint when he was arrested for drunk driving and an Ohio woman who was in a cow costume when she was arrested for disorderly conduct.

“I don’t know if that’s an honor you would want, even if the competition is pretty high,” Smoking Gun Managing Editor Andrew Goldberg said Thursday.

Goldberg, who laughed during a telephone interview when asked if he remembered Lewis’ picture, said his staff look at hundreds of mug shots a day.

A lot of these pictures feature defendants with T-shirts that are similar to Lewis’ and make references to drinking, illegal drugs or other vices, Goldberg said. But what made Lewis’ picture stand out and garner its high ranking, Goldberg said, was the story behind the mug shot and how well the two fit together.

“He was one of those people who dressed for their arrest,” Goldberg said.

Lewis drank “at least 15 beers along with some liquor” before asking his 10-year-old son to take the wheel, according to an incident and accident report filed by Sullivan County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Morrell.

Morrell found Lewis, Lewis’ girlfriend Paula Evans and three boys ages 8, 10 and 10 sitting next to an overturned 1995 Ford Windstar Van when he showed up at the scene of an accident at Flatwoods Drive about 5:30 p.m. Oct. 5.

“[Lewis] was stooped down between the two seats while [his son] was driving,” Morrell wrote in his report. “He kept telling his son to go faster and faster because they were Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp.”

The 10-year-old boy got the van up to 90 mph, according to the report, before he lost control of the vehicle, hit an embankment and flipped it over.

“Lewis was so intoxicated he could barely stand,” Morrell wrote. He wrote that Evans, 38 of Hill Street in Bristol, Tenn., was spotted “putting as many pills into her mouth as she could” when he arrived on the scene.

All five passengers were taken to the Bristol Regional Medical Center after the accident, but Lewis was the only person who didn’t suffer any injuries, according to Morrell’s report.

Evans was charged with reckless endangerment of a child, child abuse and not wearing her seat belt. Lewis was charged with those crimes plus driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license and driving without insurance.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment and three counts of misdemeanor child abuse Nov. 18. He was sentenced to serve two 11-month and 29-day terms in jail, according to court documents.

The other charges against Lewis were dismissed as part of the plea agreement. When he gets out of jail in 2010, Lewis will be forced to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and take parenting classes, according to the court documents.

gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518