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Police arrest man in hotel beating
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A 35-year-old Newton County man remains in jail after being charged with beating his girlfriend and keeping her from calling 911 for help early Wednesday morning.

Police were called to the Covington Lodge around 12:15 a.m. by an employee who said a man had notified him that someone in room 140 needed help. The guest said he thought a person he was there to visit was in that room, but when he knocked on the door a different man, later identified as Calvin Martin, answered the door. When Martin opened the door the man said a woman inside the room was “screaming and crying and stated ‘call 911, he won’t let me go!’”

As police were speaking with the employee they were advised by dispatch that a 911 call had come in from that number and although no one spoke, the dispatcher said she could hear a man and woman, and that the man said “no one was leaving and he was not afraid of going to jail.”

Officers made their way to room 140 and knocked several times, getting no answers. One officer opened the door with  a room key provided by the employee and, as the officers entered the room, they noticed a female and male at the door. The woman was crying and asking officers to “help me,” according to reports. One officer went inside to speak with Martin while the other took the female outside to speak with her. 

According to reports, the victim told officers that Martin, whom she identified as her boyfriend, had hit her in the face. She had a swollen nose and blood coming from her nose, as well as blood all over her hands. 

The woman told officers that the two of them had been arguing all night and at one point she attempted to leave to walk around and Martin told her “that if she left he would cut her and kill her.”

Later that night when they were getting ready for bed she said Martin made a comment about her father. She admitted that she grabbed him at that point and told him “not to talk about her dad because he knew that he [her father] was dead.” It was at that point that Martin hit her in the face and took her phone, throwing and shattering it.

The victim reportedly told officers she was able to grab the phone in the room, dial 911 and set the phone down, before running into the bathroom and locking herself inside so Martin could not get her. 

Based on the victim’s statement, and her obvious injuries, Martin was arrested. He continued to yell at the victim, shouting “tell them I didn’t hit you… I love you… you know I would never hit you.”

Martin was charged with interfering with a 911 call and Family Violence Act battery. He also had an outstanding warrant for child support in Walton County.