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VICTIM STABLE
Beating Victim Still In Coma, But Stable

Reported by: Send eMail Darrah Wilcox
Web Producer: Darrah Wilcox
Reported: Apr. 30, 2012 4:55 PM EDT
Updated: Apr. 30, 2012 6:20 PM EDT


Eyewitness News Photo
Eyewitness News Photo


Huntington , Cabell County , West Virginia

A handicapped man who was severely beaten with a baseball bat a few weeks ago is still alive, more than a week after being taken off life support.

Police say while brutal beating victim Otis Clay, jr, is still in a coma, he has been upgraded to stable condition. Detective Rob Stinnett with Huntington Police says, "I think it's been an amazing story. It has surprised the staff at St. Mary's that he has been able to survive and actually improve somewhat."

His friends are hopeful he'll pull through. Neigbor James Marcum says, "It makes me feel like God hasn't given up. Everybody else has, but God hasn't."

James Marcum was right next door when Jesse Dreyfuse allegedly started beating Clay with an aluminum baseball bat. As soon as he found out his friend was in trouble, he ran over to help. Marcum says, "I felt death. I went in, and he was laying there with his head bleeding. He broke his arm. He broke his ribs. He broke his knee, and then he beat his brains out.

It happened at a Washington Avenue home a few weeks ago, when Dreyfuse allegedly came to settle a drug deal gone bad. He didn't find who he was looking for, and that's when police say he took it out on Clay.

Others told Marcum to stay away, but he knew he had to do something. "I got there too late I guess, but I went to help him the best I could."

Marcum says he and another man tried to wrestle the bat out away from Dreyfuse, and eventually he fled to Wood County, where he was picked up a few days later. He was schedule to appear in Cabell County court Monday, but that hearing was reset for later this week.



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