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Headline: Woman takes bite out of crime suspect.
Sub-head: Man hospitalized, charged after testicles are severed; reattachment ruled out By Stephanie Zimmerman and Frank Main - Staff Reporters A woman walked into Chicago police headquarters early Friday morning holding an unusual piece of evidence: a pair of testicles she said she'd bitten off an attacker. The 42-year old Evanston woman told police she fought back after a man forced her to perform oral sex on him. Police put the testicles in a biohazard evidence container because the man was nowhere to be found, Sgt. Robert Cargie said. Then a man turned up at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center. Police "put two and two" together," Cargie said. But the testicles could not be reattached, said Sandra Wilks, director of community relations for the hospital. Police identified the man as Eric Williams, 21, of the 3600 block of South Michigan. He was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault. Police said the woman gave this account: She left a lounge near 35th and Michigan about 3:30 a.m. and was walking south on Michigan near 36th when Williams allegedly cornered her and said he wanted her to perform oral sex. It's unclear exactly how the bite happened. One police source said the woman claimed she had placed her teeeth around the testicles and when Williams allegedly hit her in the head, she bit them off. "I would assume that anything is possible" Cargie said. Dr. Robert Nadler, a urologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said it is theoretically possible to reattach severed testicles. But the conditions of this case - an unclean cut and stretched or damaged blood vessels - would make success extremely unlikely. "This has multiple strikes against it," Nadler said. Even with a twisting injury to the testes, permanent damage can occur after six hours, Nadler said. "The cells that produce the sperm need oxygen, need blood," he said. Williams was in fair condition at Michael Reese on Friday and was being monitored for signs of infection from the bite wound, Wilks said. "It's such a horror story," Wilks said.
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