Man who fatally stabbed Tyler X. Lewis, student from Baldwin, won't face charges, prosecutors say

Erie County prosecutors announced Friday that they would not file charges in the deadly stabbing last year of a Baldwin student at the University at Buffalo after a grand jury declined to recommend an indictment. 

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn said the Oct. 14 stabbing of Tyler X. Lewis, 19, a sophomore at Buffalo State, was justified in self-defense after, police believe, Lewis' unnamed assailant was attacked by a group following an attempted robbery in a botched drug deal. 

Flynn, who detailed the evidence Friday, said the grand jury’s finding left prosecutors with “no probable cause” to file charges.

“Even though the evidence clearly showed this was a justifiable stabbing, I still put the case in front of the grand jury, not only for transparency, but just to show one person is not going to make this decision solely,” Flynn said at a news conference Friday in Buffalo. “I did I out of fairness and respect for the family and respect they lost their child.”

Lewis’ mother, who rallied with family and supporters outside the Erie County Courthouse in Buffalo on Monday calling for an arrest in the case, was angered by the decision and Flynn’s comments portraying her son as the instigator in the attack.

“Tyler did not stab himself and so it was not justified,” his mother, Roquisha Lewis, said Friday. “I watched and found out this story he concocted and it’s disgusting. How do you do that to a family? It’s totally insensitive. Who told him this story, the drug dealers who murdered my son or the four boys who arranged an attack on his life?”

Prosecutors said Tyler Lewis had befriended the group, which had a tendency to target and rob marijuana dealers.

Flynn said authorities tracked text messages from Lewis and other teens in the group who set up a deal to buy marijuana from the dealer, who was not identified. He said the group went to meet the dealer in a parking lot. He said Lewis carried a friend’s backpack containing his phone, a large knife and $1,800 in counterfeit bills, and got into the dealer’s car to buy one pound of marijuana.

A fight began in the car when the group of friends rushed to Lewis and the group began attacking the dealer, Flynn said. The dealer pulled a knife and stabbed Lewis, who ran away and later collapsed as the other teens sped away, the district attorney said.

A resident adviser and paramedics responded and found Lewis bleeding on the ground from a single stab wound, and he died a short time later, Flynn said.

He said witnesses saw the group stomping and beating on the dealer during the attack.

Prosecutors said they were able to identify the dealer and the other members of the group involved in the attack but did not recover the knife used in the killing or the marijuana.

Prosecutors said they pieced together the case with uncooperative suspects and cellphone records.

Lewis’ mother said Lewis was going to meet his girlfriend the night of the attack and never showed up for dinner. She vowed to continue to push for justice for her son.

“To paint Tyler as the villain is disgusting,” Lewis said. “He never had a fight in his life and to come up with this story sickens and saddens me.”

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.