Indiana man Donald W. Talbott, 23, was arrested Sunday after allegedly biting off part of another man's ear during a heated argument over which one was the better gambler, WLKY-TV reports.
Police in Greendale, Ind., were called to a Quality Inn early Sunday morning after receiving reports that a crowd had gathered in a second-floor hallway.
Officers entered the motel and discovered a gruesome scene: a man lying on a couch, screaming and bleeding from a gaping wound in his ear and a piece human flesh on the floor nearby, according to the Associated Press.
According to a court affidavit, the man in the motel room, Jacob Kerola, told deputies that Donald Talbott tried to punch him and then bit his ear during an intense argument about their respective gambling merits, Eagle Country radio reported.
But Talbott refuted that story, telling police it was Kerola who tried to punch him first. When asked by police why Kerola was missing part of his ear, Talbott said he had no idea, according to WLKY-TV.
Talbott's sister Melissa told the station both men were at the hotel as part of a large group of friends who had gathered for a party. She told authorities she heard the two men arguing from across the hall and rushed into the room to find Kerola on top of her brother.
But she corroborated Kerola's account of the incident, telling police she believed her brother had indeed bitten his ear.
Talbott is being held in the Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center without bond on charges of battery resulting in serious bodily injury and disorderly conduct.