Porterhouse Grill worker found dead in downtown parking deck

By Joe Johnson

An employee of a popular Athens steakhouse was found dead in his car last week.

Coworkers at Porterhouse Grill on East Broad Street found the lifeless body of 51-year-old Eddie Lewis in his Chevrolet Equinox a few blocks away in the courthouse parking deck on East Washington Street

They went looking for him alter seeing that Lewis had done his normal kitchen prep work Thursday morning but hadn’t returned by late lunchtime.

The employees told police that it was Lewis’s routine to preheat ovens and complete other preparations before returning to the parking deck to catch some sleep in his car prior to beginning his shift.

There wa nothing suspicious about the death, nor was there evidence of drugs or alcohol consumption.

An autopsy is to be conducted at the state medical examiner’s office.