Florida Today
Melbourne, FL (Florida Today) -- A Palm Bay man is accused of biting off his on-and-off again girlfriend's left thumb during a fight Wednesday.
The
incident began with a call from a nurse at Health First Holmes Regional
Medical Center, Palm Bay police spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez said.
"The
nurse advised (the victim) was treated for a severed left thumb, and
that the woman continued to say, 'I can't believe he bit my finger off,'
" she said. Martinez said hospital staff were not able to reattach her
thumb.
When Palm
Bay police got to the hospital, the woman was gone. They went to her
last-known address, on East University Boulevard, and found Melbourne
police were already at the scene.
Martinez said Ricardo Marquis Davis confessed to biting off his significant other's thumb.
"He
was driving to work, she works at a Taco Bell in Palm Bay," Martinez
said. "During the course of the drive down to work, they got into a
verbal argument, and she basically became upset. She kind of pushed his
head, and he responded by biting (her thumb).
"He bit it completely off and spit it out on the floorboard."
Palm
Bay police victim advocates are working to help the woman. People at
the woman's south Melbourne home said she returned to the hospital
Thursday for treatment.
Davis,
35, is being held in jail on a charge of aggravated battery. He was
being held in what is known as "the bubble," a clear-walled cell that
allows for constant supervision of inmates who deputies think may harm
themselves and who have not yet been cleared by mental health staff.