‘They left me for dead’
Josh Winfree spoke to the Warren County Way about Sunday’s incident and gave his account of the evening.
LISA HOBBS, News Editor
A Warren County man says his family has been tormented by male juveniles for the last year, an ongoing situation that could have turned deadly on the evening of Sunday, June 28.
“My family has been stalked, cyber stalked and harassed for the last 10 months by boys,” said Josh Winfree, who denies that this was a case of juvenile mischief, as stated by Sheriff Jackie D. Matheny Jr. in today’s press release. “When I tell you the reason why all this started, you won’t believe it. These are the things you only see on television, and you think it will never happen to you.”
Winfree says teenage boys, likely some of the same ones that were at his residence on Crisp Springs Road two days ago, have been targeting his family by repeatedly trespassing and vandalizing it with toilet paper, flour, vegetable oil and spraying silly string, etc. Calls to law enforcement always ended with him being told he needed proof.
“I needed to catch them in the act; that’s what I was told,” said Winfree, who decided he needed to prosecute to stem what he says were relentless attacks that he feared might escalate into something truly serious, such as arson.
During Sunday night’s visit by the juveniles, he went out and followed them to where their vehicles were parked. They piled back into them and left. One vehicle returned.
“They accelerated and come straight at me. They didn’t hit the brakes until they were within five feet of me. Not to mention, when I tried to run, they swerved that way. When I ran back to the white line, they swerved that way. I was getting ready to bail into the ditch and they swerved towards the ditch. At this moment, I realized that I’m going to get hit. It was an average sedan. I jump a little bit. My shins hit the grill. I go onto the hood. I felt the hood beneath me. I hit the windshield and went over the car. I landed in the ditch on the other side of the road.”
The vehicle, says Winfree, ended up in the ditch where he once had stood. He says he watched in disbelief and fear as the driver “started gassing the car” and it moved forward and backwards.
“I’m lying there thinking ‘they’re going to reverse over me.’ They’re eight feet from me, maybe 10. They didn’t know where I was. I could have been under the car. They couldn’t see me.”
The driver managed to free the vehicle and drove away.
“They left me for dead,” said Winfree. “I’m still lying there. I thought my arm was broken, but it wasn’t. I realize that I’m pretty much okay. I knew I needed to get up and make my way back to the house. So, I got to the house, got my phone and called my significant other. I told her I caught people rolling the house and they ran over me in their car. I called 911.”
Winfree reported that a third vehicle, not involved in the situation but likely to contain a witness, also left the scene.
What prompted the boys to repeatedly vandalize this specific property? Winfree says the attacks started after something everyone endures in their lifetime, a date request rejected. One of the teenage boys asked his teenage daughter to the Homecoming Dance and she declined.
“That was it; I know that’s hard to believe, but it’s true,” Winfree said. “This has been months of ongoing harassment, ongoing stalking and cyber stalking, and ongoing intimidation towards my daughter. Nothing we have ever done has given us protection from it. They decided that night that toilet paper and getting caught for that was worth taking my life. I’m telling you that they made that conscious decision.”
Winfree expressed his desire that the Warren County Sheriff’s Office pull cell phone records of the boys to determine their exact roles in the vandalisms and the motive behind them, which he believes will prove this was ongoing and retaliatory in nature and not just juvenile mischief.
“I’ve come home in the middle of the night from a softball tournament and they were backed into my driveway. I’ve ran them off four times in one night. They’ve done more to my house than you can image. I don’t care. I just want it to stop. It needs to stop. Not only for just my daughter, but for other girls. What happens the next time he asks a girl to a dance and she says no? Think about that. What if it were your daughter? It might be next time, if this is swept under the rug and nothing happens to deter them from future actions such as this.”
The 17-year-old driver, who reportedly turn 18 the day after the incident, has been charged with aggravated assault and vandalism of property, while the remaining four boys were charged with vandalism of property. Their names have been withheld.
The press release also stated that the Warren County Sheriff’s Office will continue investigating those previous reports to determine whether additional charges are warranted.