The man accused of biting off another man’s nose outside of Mississippi’s Hollywood Casino Gulf Coast was arrested after turning himself into police on Wednesday.
Mark Wells, 51, of Biloxi, Miss., initially was booked at the Hancock County jail. He then posted 10 percent of a $50,000 bond, and was released from custody, WXXV, a local TV station, reported.
He faces a charge of mayhem for the violent incident which took place on Monday night in the parking lot of the Bay St. Louis casino, police said.
Mayhem is charged when a suspect intends to kill a victim, the Sun Herald, a local newspaper, said. Another element of the crime is that the suspect mutilates, disfigures, disables, or destroys someone’s tongue, eye, lip, nose, limb, or another body part, the report added.
If convicted, Wells could face up to seven years in prison.
After the nose was bitten off, Wells fled the casino in a Tesla, police said.
The dispute began when Wells and the victim began arguing about a golf game they had played earlier Monday at Bridges Golf Course. It is located next to the casino.
Nose Not Found
The nose has yet to be found, WXXV said. The victim was taken to Memorial Hospital in Gulfport for initial treatment.
The victim suffered what police described as a “disfiguring facial injury.”
Details on the victim’s current condition were not immediately available on Friday.
Prior Successful Surgeries
Depending on the extent of victim’s injuries, it may be possible for surgeons to reconstruct the nose. In some cases, cartilage can be taken from other parts of the patient’s body to provide the person with the foundation for a replacement nose.
In one similar case, Dr. Andrew Ordon of “The Doctors,” a TV show, successfully reconstructed a nose on Michele Messer’s face after her ex-boyfriend allegedly bit it off in an assault.
Several years ago, Ordon took skin from the South Carolinian’s forehead to perform a graft, as well as cartilage from an ear, Inside Edition reported. The complex surgeries were performed pro bono.
Also, in another case, a young woman, Valeria Romero, lost much of her nose in Florida after a horse bit her in 2017. Initial surgery by Dr. Joshua Lampert, a reconstructive plastic surgeon who specializes in nasal tip reconstruction, used a forehead flap to begin the process of rebuilding her nose, according to Ivanhoe Broadcast News.
Later, Dr. Lampert took cartilage from one of Romero’s ears to build the skeletal framework of a nose. Then, he sculpted the nose to give it a desired shape.
When faced with such surgical challenges, cartilage for the new nose can be removed from the patient’s ears or ribs, according to the Rhino-Oto-Center, a specialized medical practice in Germany. Also, skin and mucous membrane can be taken from other parts of the body to use in the new nose, so it has sufficient skin and mucosa, the doctors explain.
The post Mississippi Casino Alleged Nose Biter Released From Custody, Victim Hospitalized appeared first on Casino.org.