Massachusetts

Teen Charged With Hate Crime After Allegedly Taking Man Hostage

It was inside a church bathroom in Framingham, Massachusetts, where 50-year-old Eliseu Otoni says he was held captive from Wednesday until Saturday.

"Four days without eat, without drink," said Otoni, who is from Brazil.

Jackson Sugrue, 19, is accused of the crime inside the Philadelphia Baptist Church in Framingham. The victim says he was beaten with a fire extinguisher and a coffee table.

"I said, 'please, don't do that, please, don't do that,'" said Otoni. "He attacked me."

The victim had been staying at the church because he had nowhere to live.

He told police that the teenager, whom he met earlier this year, got violent after the two smoked crack cocaine and he was held hostage in the church basement.

He eventually escaped and ran to a friend's home, shirtless and bloody.

"His hands were all bleeding," said friend Melvin Cook. "His back was all sore, his neck."

Cook and his wife said they could see slices on the victim's back and rib cage.

"He was crying," said Elizabeth Thompson Cook, who called 911.

Sugrue allegedly made references to Otoni's sexual preference, and so prosecutors have charged him with a hate crime.

"'You gay, you gay, now I'm gonna show you who I am,'" Otoni recalled Sugrue saying. "He started to hit me."

Besides the hate crime, Sugrue is also facing other charges including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

His mother says he was the victim, and taken advantage of by an older man, and that her son is in the hospital to be checked out.

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