14 DAY TRIAL // Leona Lewis was in London the other day promoting her autobiography, “Dreams,” and signing copies for fans, when a male fan simply reached out and punched her hard in the face, presumably in the eye. The police immediately stepped in and immobilized the assailant, while bodyguards escorted the singer out of the venue, the BBC informs.
Leona was crying when she was rushed to her car and had most of her face hidden behind a pair of large sunglasses. According to reports, she did not need medical assistance after the incident, but was left terribly shaken by it because of its unexpectedness. Witnesses on the scene are telling the BBC that the guy in question, the assailant, was still laughing when the police knocked him to the ground, as if he had done some truly awesome thing, as it was all just a joke.
“Police have arrested a man over an alleged assault on 2006 X Factor winner Leona Lewis at a book signing. A Scotland Yard spokesman said police were called to Waterstones book store at Piccadilly, London, but Lewis did not need hospital treatment. Lewis’ spokesman said the singer had been signing autographs for around 90 minutes when ‘a guy came up and punched her to the side of the head.’ The spokesman added that Lewis was ‘understandably badly shaken.’” the BBC writes of the recent incident.
The singer’s rep also used the opportunity to extend Leona’s apology to all the fans who had come to the book signing but did not get a chance to get an autograph and a photo with the star because of the incident. From what eyewitnesses are saying, the force of the impact was so great, that she had no other choice but to leave immediately. “My brother saw the whole incident. He [the attacker] walked up there with the book, she signed it and, as she looked up, he just punched her. He [my brother] actually heard the impact.” a male fan says for the BBC.
The Waterstones book store has also issued a statement, apologizing to the fans and, above all, to Leona Lewis for the disturbing accident. This is the first time that Waterstones is confronted with a situation of this kind, it further says.