GUILDERLAND — Jason Kenyon, who was, according to Guilderland Police, stabbed on April 20 at the Winding Brook Drive apartment complex where he lives, says that now he is being forced out of his home.

“I’m the victim here ….,” Kenyon told The Enterprise this week. “It’s just not right.”

Tim Owens, general manager of Tri-City Rentals, which leases apartments at Fairwood on Winding Brook Drive, did not respond to calls from The Enterprise.

Kenyon’s neighbor, Douglas R. Martak, 54, was charged on April 22 with second-degree attempted murder, first- and second-degree assault, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

He is in custody at Albany County’s jail and, according to his inmate services counselor, has not entered a plea.

Kenyon called The Enterprise because of concerns about losing his home but the story he told was about more than that — it was about how two friends on a warm April night got into a fight leading to dire consequences.

Kenyon, 44, said of Martak, “We were neighbors, kind of like drinking buddies. He’s in the building right next door to me.”

A mutual friend in the complex had, on Saturday, April 19, invited both Kenyon and Martak “over into the picnic-table area outside their apartment because they were smoking meat,” said Kenyon, describing how events unfolded.

“We were all having drinks … that’s quite common especially on a nice day. It’s never gotten violent ever though.”

However, on April 19, Kenyon said, he and Martak “had a little too much to drink” and “some words were exchanged” towards the end of the day because, as it started to rain and things were moved indoors, “my stuff was left outside in the rain,” Kenyon said.

He went back to his apartment at 4 Winding Brook and he and Martak continued “to text back and forth, not the nicest stuff to each other.”

As it neared midnight, Kenyon walked next door and knocked on Martak’s door. He claims that Martak “sent the dog out, thinking that the dog was going to attack me …. So the dog comes out and licks me.”

After the dog was back inside, Kenyon alleged, “We exchanged words and then he grabbed me by the throat.”

Kenyon said he took Martak’s hand off his throat and then “put my hand on his back shoulder, and I’m literally going to put this guy down — he’s a pretty decent-sized guy.”

The arrest report describes Martak as being 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing 290 pounds.

“Well, what I didn’t know,” Kenyon continued, “is he got a barber’s blade in his other hand and, as he was going down, he grabbed on to me and he sliced my side 16 inches … so it really wasn’t a stabbing; it was more of a slashing.”

Kenyon later got 27 stitches, he said, to close the wound.

Continuing his version of events, Kenyon said, “I got up. I looked at him; he looked at me, and he said, ‘I’ll f---ing kill you.’ I said, ‘Doug, what did you just do to me? … I wasn’t expecting you to have a weapon.’

“So, for about 15 minutes, we sat down and had a conversation … He was extremely apologetic … He’s got some issues depression-wise; he lost his wife and I think he really just lost his mind there for a moment.”

Kenyon said of the man who had been his friend for about a year, “This is not something that he would ever do soberly. He kind of mismanages his depression pills … I go, ‘Doug, you can’t do that kind of stuff. You got to talk to your doctor.’

“I really think he just hit a breaking point between the drinking and maybe just someone like me just arguing put him over the edge because we’re pretty close … We text every day or get together every couple of days and have some drinks.”

Asked how he had this 15-minute conversation with the person who had allegedly slashed him, Kenyon said, “I wasn’t bleeding but I was cut bad. I didn’t realize how bad.”

The police report described Kenyon, as the victim, having, “serious injuries to his back and abdomen.”

“I just took my shirt off and put it to the side and just kind of tucked it under my elbow there and I sat down and I put the blade away and I said, ‘Doug, this is nuts, man. What is going on with you?’”

Martak, he said, took a picture of the wound. Kenyon then went home and, according to the police report, at 12:45 a.m. called for an ambulance.

The next day, Monday, April 21, Guilderland Police Officer Kristopher Scarano came by his house, and, according to Kenyon, said, “You’ve got to report this because it’s attempted murder.”

Scarano, who serves as the department’s public information officer, said this week that he was not allowed to say anything about the case that was not in the press release he issued on April 22.

Kenyon went on, “I really didn’t want to do that because, again, I know Doug …. I truly believe he didn’t mean to truly do this. I think it was just a crazy moment for him.”

Nevertheless, Kenyon went to the police station, told his side of the story, had pictures taken, and then testified before a grand jury, he said.

Rental

Kenyon has lived at the Fairwood Apartments for six years, he said. He moved into a one-bedroom apartment at 3 Winding Brook in 2019 and then to a two-bedroom apartment at 4 Winding Brook in 2021, he said.

Two-bedroom apartments at Fairwood rent for between $1,595 and $1,970 per month, according to the Fairwood Apartments website.

Kenyon said he has a “great relationship” with the maintenance crew and that there have been “zero complaints” about him as a tenant.

Kenyon had worked as a sixth-grade teacher at Farnsworth Middle School but resigned. Guilderland schools superintendent Marie Wiles confirmed that Kenyon had worked as a teacher at Farnsworth and resigned but declined to elaborate further.

Kenyon said the trigger for his resignation had been “some text messages that I had sent when I was intoxicated.” The messages were sent to a colleague, he said, and involved “political stuff that got me kind of in trouble with another colleague that wasn’t on my side of the aisle … Prior to the election, things were pretty hot … I guess I learned a lesson.”

Kenyon is working now as a “DoorDasher,” an independent contractor delivering food to customers who place online orders at restaurants.

In early May, Kenyon said, he received a letter from Tri-City Rentals, stating his lease would not be renewed, giving him 90 days to move out.

The three-sentence May 7 letter gives no specific reason for the non-renewal, stating, “Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the lease for the apartment you occupy, we are hereby notifying you that we will not be renewing your lease which expires on August 31, 2025 …. We shall expect possession of your apartment on said date.”

Kenyon said that, because of the slashing, he was briefly unable to work and had “fallen short on the rent only by a few hundred bucks.”

He has also been working with an attorney, he said, to rectify “a certification issue” so he can return to the classroom. This has been costly, he said.

Kenyon had been allowed to use his security deposit to catch up on his rent and was going to be “on track” with his rental payments by June, he said.

He believes the slashing is the reason that his lease is not being renewed. Owens, general manager of Tri-City Rentals, did not respond to Enterprise inquiries for the termination of Kenyon’s lease.

“They gave me no inkling through my financial conversations with them, with my hardships for rent, that they were not going to renew my lease,” Kenyon said.

Although Kenyon said he had been unable to pay his rent on time, he concluded, “I spoke to Tim [Owens] in April, and in May I’m getting a non-renewal. So, the only thing that changed was my incident with the slashing.”