{"id":70685,"date":"2016-03-20T18:40:33","date_gmt":"2016-03-20T22:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breaking911.com\/?p=70685"},"modified":"2016-03-20T18:40:33","modified_gmt":"2016-03-20T22:40:33","slug":"georgia-man-poured-boiling-water-over-gay-couple-as-they-lay-in-bed-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breaking911.com\/georgia-man-poured-boiling-water-over-gay-couple-as-they-lay-in-bed-police-say\/","title":{"rendered":"GRAPHIC IMAGES: Ga. Man Poured Boiling Water Over Gay Couple as They Lay In Bed"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Scroll down for video report) — Marquez Tolbert buried his face in his hands. His chest contracted with a stifled sob.<\/p>\n

When he looked up, a patchwork of angry red welts became visible on the side of his neck. That’s where he was burned. His T-shirt hid the full extent of his injuries, the swath of scalded skin that now covers his entire back.<\/p>\n

“The pain,” he told WSBTV Thursday, his voice cracking on each syllable. “You can’t sleep at night.”<\/p>\n

Tears were in the young man’s eyes. He winced, wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand, then took a sharp breath, summoning the words and the composure to go on.<\/p>\n

“The pain doesn’t let you sleep,” he continued. “It’s excruciating, 24 hours a day. It doesn’t go anywhere, it doesn’t dial down. It’s just there.”<\/p>\n

A month ago, Tolbert, 21, and his boyfriend Anthony Gooden Jr., 23, were jolted out of sleep by the feeling of boiling water splashing across their torsos, faces and limbs. Gooden’s mother’s boyfriend, Martin Blackwell, stood over them, pouring the water, they say.<\/p>\n

For a moment, Tolbert had no idea what could have provoked the alleged attack. Then Blackwell allegedly yanked him off the mattress and yelled, “Get out of my house with all that gay,” Tolbert recalled to WSBTV.<\/p>\n

\"(Suspect<\/a>
(Suspect Martin Blackwell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“We were just burning,” he later told Project Q Atlanta. “My body was just stinging. It was like a really, really severe kind of stinging. I could hardly think straight.”<\/p>\n

Blackwell, 48, was arrested on two counts of aggravated battery, according to Fulton County Jail records. He is being held without bail.<\/p>\n

Georgia has had no hate crime statute since the state’s supreme court struck down the law in 2004. But WSBTV reported that Blackwell could face federal hate crime charges for the alleged attack.<\/p>\n

\"Tolbert-and-Gooden-burn-pho-640x264\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Marquez told the TV station he has no doubt that hate was what fueled this.<\/p>\n

“Why else would you pour boiling water on somebody?” he asked.<\/p>\n

Now, Tolbert and Gooden are in the agonizing process of recovering from their second and third degree burns. Tolbert spent 10 days in the hospital undergoing surgery to repair the skin on his back. Gooden was hospitalized for five weeks, according to Project Q Atlanta.<\/p>\n

The Georgia couple had been dating for about six weeks, they told the LGBT news site. They both worked at a warehouse near Gooden’s mother’s College Park apartment, and often slept there when they got off their shift.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 12, after working for 12 hours, they collapsed onto a mattress in the living room. Not long after, Blackwell – who didn’t live in the apartment – allegedly walked in.<\/p>\n

According to an incident report from the College Park Police Department, Blackwell told police that he was angry at the sight of the two men together.<\/p>\n