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Love Bites: In Valentine's Kiss, Man Loses Chunk of Tongue

By Tanya Roth, Esq. on February 19, 2013 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

There are some crazy Valentine's Day stories out there, but this one takes the cake. A woman in Skokie, Illinois, was arrested after she allegedly bit off a large piece of her boyfriend's tongue.

And she didn't bite off his tongue as he attacked her, or as a way of defending herself either.

According to NBC News, police reports indicate that she bit off her boyfriend's tongue as he was trying to show her some tenderness and affection.

Elaine Cook, 51, was charged with aggravated domestic battery after she chomped off her boyfriend's tongue as he tried to kiss her. In Illinois, aggravated domestic battery is where a person commits a domestic battery and knowingly causes great bodily harm or permanent disability or disfigurement.

The couple had gotten into a fight and when they went back to Cook's apartment, she asked her boyfriend to leave. But in an attempt to reconcile on Valentine's Day, he asked that they stop fighting and he leaned in for a kiss.

But she wasn't having any of that. After Cook allegedly bit off a chunk of her boyfriend's tongue, the man ran to the sink bleeding. Cook threw the tongue on the counter.

Luckily, Cook's roommate helped the poor man call the police. He placed his tongue in a bag of ice and went to the hospital.

Unfortunately, the tongue could not be attached due to inadequate blood supply. Cook is now being held on $100,000 bail.

As for Cook's 47-year-old boyfriend, he's asked that his name not be revealed, telling news outlets that he is in a lot of pain. He also told NBC News that he has "a lot of mixed feelings" and that it makes him "sick to his stomach" to think that Cook is sitting in jail.

For now, however, his focus is in getting better. As for Cook, she has court hearings this week, when she will have a lot of explaining to do.

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