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Jackson Sugrue has been charged with a hate crime in connection with the attack on Otoni Eliseu in Massachusetts.
A man in Framingham, Mass., has been charged with a hate crime after allegedly holding a gay man captive for four days and repeatedly beating him.
Police found Otoni Eliseu, 50, lying on the ground Saturday in the Boston suburb, local TV station WFXT reports. He was "bloodied and bruised," and said he had been held in a basement apartment for four days without food or water, and beaten by an assailant who used antigay slurs, according to the station.
Police arrested Jackson Sugrue, 19, of Framingham. He "is being charged with a hate crime, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery and intimidation of a witness," WFXT reports.
Eliseu had been staying in the apartment in a church basement since the pastor offered it to him a few weeks ago; he had been homeless previously. He told the station he and Sugrue had been using drugs together last Wednesday when Sugrue became violent. Sugrue beat him with objects including a coffee table and a fire extinguisher and told him, "I know you're gay," Eliseu said. Eliseu managed to break out Saturday and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
During a court hearing Monday, Sugrue's attorney denied the charges, and said his client was the victim and Eliseu the aggressor, the Associated Press reports.
