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CLEARWATER - A man was arrested on an aggravated battery charge over the weekend after he bit off a quarter-inch of his roommate's thumb during a fight, Clearwater police said.
Benito Martinez, 21, was being held at the Pinellas County Jail Monday in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Police said Martinez and his roommate, Marcelo Alaves, 26, were drinking beer in their apartment, 2025 Rogers St., on Saturday night when Martinez became upset over a remark Alaves made about Martinez's girlfriend.
The pair then began a fight that spilled outside their unit.
"Outside the apartment, he (Alaves) punched Martinez in the face, and somehow his right thumb went into Martinez's mouth," Officer Mark Murray wrote in an incident report. "Martinez then bit his right thumb and took off the tip of it," including the nail.
"The top of Alaves' right thumb was ripped off and missing, almost exposing the bone," the report states.
Martinez left the apartment before police arrived. Officers found Alaves bleeding heavily from his thumb. Clearwater Fire Department paramedics arrived and treated Alaves, but he refused an ambulance transport to the hospital, instead promising to get a ride to the emergency room with a friend, police said.
Police found Martinez the next day and arrested him.
The incident report did not indicate what happened to the tip of the thumb. Alaves could not be reached Monday.