Towson University student gets home detention, community service for crash that killed man and his dog

Luisa Renzi says being the mother of Jordan Sachs was the greatest honor of her life, and she does not want him to be remembered only for how he died.

Sachs, she said, was a “Renaissance man.”

He was a pharmacist, musician, Pokémon card collector, cook, sports fan and fiancé. Other loved ones said he was a responsible, caring and vibrant young man.

On Nov. 12, 2025, a woman driving a 2014 Toyota Camry ran a red light at Towsontown Boulevard West and Emerson Drive and fatally struck Sachs, 32, and his Australian shepherd mix, Archie, in a crosswalk.

“My future with Jordan was taken from me that night,” Renzi said in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

The driver, Oluwajomiloju “JJ” Sekiteri, a senior at Towson University and logistics specialist third class in the U.S. Navy Reserve, was spared jail time Monday for criminally negligent manslaughter by vehicle and related crimes.

Through tears, Sekiteri said she knew she could not undo what happened and vowed to live the rest of her life in a way that honors Sachs’ memory.

“I wish more than anything that I could go back and make a different decision,” she said.

Circuit Court Judge Ralph Sapia ordered Sekiteri, 21, of Owings Mills, to spend 18 months on home detention along with probation, perform 170 hours of community service and pay more than $3,700 in restitution.

The judge directed Sekiteri to divide her community service between speaking to students at Baltimore County Public Schools and Towson University and assisting at the Baltimore Humane Society. He also barred her from driving for three years.

“I am sorry we all met under these conditions and circumstances,” Sapia said.

Assistant State’s Attorney Felise Kelly advocated for a sentence of 18 months in the Baltimore County Detention Center.

Sachs, she said, “did everything right”: He waited for his turn to cross the street. But Sekiteri tried to beat a yellow light, Kelly said.

“For what?” Kelly said. “She simply didn’t want to wait a few minutes for a red light.”

Sekiteri’s attorney, Lee Eidelberg, asked the judge to sentence his client to probation and called four character witnesses to speak on her behalf. They included one of her professors, a colleague in the military and two members of her church.

Eidelberg said there’s no question that what happened was a tragedy. But he described it as an “aberrational event,” noting that his client had never even received a traffic ticket prior to the crash.

“This incident does not define her character,” Eidelberg said.

Sekiteri, he said, will have to live with the consequences of the crime for the rest of her life.

Eidelberg said his client could credibly speak to other young drivers about how “an ordinary day could become a lifelong tragedy in a manner of seconds” — and prevent them from making the same mistake.