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Once A Hero, He's Accused In Attack

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By LISA A. DAVIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 13, 2008

PORT RICHEY - When intruders barged into his home a few months ago and started swinging a baseball bat at him and his girlfriend, Joshua Sayers said he did everything he could to protect her.

The 17-year-old said he tried to block the bat as the attackers came toward Jordan Rennie. But when one of the men pulled out a gun, Sayers ran, leaving his 16-year-old girlfriend behind.
Sayers said he thought the intruders would chase him. Instead, they beat Rennie so badly she required reconstructive surgery to her face.

Now, the teenage boy she called a hero in March is facing a felony battery charge, accused of beating and choking Rennie on Sunday. Pasco deputies arrested him Wednesday at his home, 9015 Collage Lane, Port Richey, and he was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center in Land O' Lakes.

Sayers, according to sheriff's office reports, drank two bottles of whiskey around 5 p.m., grew "extremely agitated for no apparent reason," grabbed Rennie and threw her against the wall at his aunt's house down the street.

The aunt intervened, Rennie told authorities, and walked her to Sayers' home so she could get some belongings. But he followed, the reports state, and when his aunt left he again attacked his girlfriend, pushing her so that she struck her head on a window sill.

He shoved her down on a bed, grabbed her by the throat with his right hand and squeezed her airway, making it difficult to breathe, a report says. At that point, Sayers' mother arrived and told him to let go of Rennie.
Sayers grabbed a large knife and he said he was going to kill the people responsible for the home invasion in March; Rennie told deputies she didn't want him to hurt anyone so she tried to take the knife, but the two struggled and she received several minor cuts on the inside of her wrists, the reports state.

She eventually got the knife away from him, a report says, but dropped it on top of her foot. She then left the home. Rennie later was treated at a local hospital.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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