Men accused in fatal Clearwater tire iron attack arrested in second beating in St. Pete, investigators say
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Back in October 2022, two men were accused of violently attacking and killing a bicyclist with a tire iron in Clearwater. Now, St. Pete police said they have arrested the same suspects for beating a different man with a tire iron that same evening.
Jermaine Bennett and Savonne Morrison were both arrested on one count of attempted first-degree murder for the beating of a 79-year-old man. The St. Petersburg Police Department said it happened on 22nd Avenue North on October 20, 2022.
Booking photos for Jermaine Bennett and Savonne Morrison. Courtesy: St. Petersburg Police Department.
Investigators said Bennett and Morrison were already in the Pinellas County Jail on charges for the fatal attack in Clearwater the same evening.
St. Pete police said they responded shortly before midnight on October 20 to the 2400 block of 22nd Avenue North to investigate the attack. Officers arrived at the scene to find the 79-year-old victim with multiple cuts and lacerations.
Two men in a car stopped the victim as he was walking along eastbound 22nd Avenue North, according to police. That's when one of the men got out of the vehicle and struck the victim numerous times with a tire iron before both men got back into the car and drove off, investigator said.
The victim was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that night, St. Pete police said.
In the second incident in the early hours of October 21, 2022, Clearwater police said 49-year-old Jeffrey Chapman was hit with a tire iron more than 10 times, and he died from his injuries.
Bennett at the time admitted to investigators that he attacked Chapman with a tire iron, and is currently facing a first-degree murder charge in that case.
Clearwater's Deputy Chief Michael Walek said in October that the "heinous and violent" attack was random, and that Bennett told detectives he did it because the"ills of society had gotten to him."