Correction 8:38 p.m.

Former Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Jermaine Lewis has been charged in a traffic stop in Upperco in which a police officer said he noticed a young child sitting unrestrained in the front passenger seat, Baltimore County police said in a report Thursday evening. 

Lewis was driving on a suspended and revoked license stemming from an erratic driving incident in August. (The accompanying photo is from the former arrest.)

The police report indicated that after witnessing the youth, Lewis’ 4-year-old son, in the front seat without a seatbelt, the officer ran a routine check on the tags of Lewis’ 2006 Dodge Charger—the same vehicle he was driving during the August incident.

Maryland law requires a child under 8 to be restrained in a child safety seat in a motor vehicle.

According the police report, Lewis said, “You know I don’t have a license, officer,” when approached by police.

When asked why he was driving, Lewis told the officer that his wife was in jail and he needed to get food for his son and something to heat his home, motioning to a fire starter log in the front passenger seat next to his son, the report says.

No child safety seat was found in the vehicle.

Lewis was charged with failing to secure a child under 8 in a child safety seat when transporting a motor vehicle, driving on a suspended license and driving on a revoked license. His bail was set at $50,000.

This story was corrected to reflect that Lewis was being held and had not been released on bail.