Phill Lewis - 1993 Car Crash

1993 Car Crash

In late December 1991, Lewis was arrested after a car he was driving collided head on with another car driven by 21 year-old Isabel Duarte in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Potomac, Maryland. Lewis crossed the center line in his 1985 Buick Century and hit Duarte's Honda CRX head-on. Duarte, a resident of nearby Bethesda, Maryland, would eventually die from her injuries. Lewis was charged with drunk driving. He apologized, saying "I am extremely and sincerely sorry for my disorderly actions."

According to the February 8, 1993 issue of Jet Magazine:

Lewis was sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter with a motor vehicle and driving while intoxicated, but a Maryland judge suspended all but one year of the sentence. Montgomery County, Md., Circuit Court Judge William Miller said he suspended most of the sentence because of excellent behavior since the car accident, which killed Isabel Duarte, 21, of Bethesda, Md. Lewis ... worked with a prison-based theater group ... aimed at making audiences aware of the tragedy of drug abuse at schools, churches and jails. Lewis ... was also given two years supervised probation and ordered to perform 350 hours of community service.

Phill was sentenced to five years in prison, two years of probation, and 350 hours of community service. However, Judge William Miller suspended four years of the prison term, citing Lewis's work with a prison-based theater group which performed in schools and churches to highlight the consequences of drug abuse. After these legal troubles, Lewis resumed his career anew, acting mostly in supporting roles in sitcoms before his role as Mr. Moseby in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and The Suite Life on Deck.