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'Vampire' arrested after she bit wheelchair-bound man, police say

A self-proclaimed vampire attacked an elderly wheelchair-bound man outside a Florida Hooters Restaurant just before midnight on Thursday, leaving him bloodied and in need of stitches, police said.
Image: Josephine Rebecca Smith
<div id=\"slideshow-caption-1190409\">Josephine Rebecca Smith</div>PCSO
/ Source: msnbc.com

A self-proclaimed vampire attacked an elderly wheelchair-bound man outside a Florida Hooters Restaurant just before midnight on Thursday, leaving him bloodied and in need of stitches, police said.

Milton Ellis, 69, had fallen asleep on the porch of the deserted Hooters in St. Petersburg when he woke up to find Josephine Rebecca Smith, 22, on top of him, he told police.

Smith told Ellis she was a vampire and then proceeded to bite him, tearing off chunks of his face and a part of his lip, St. Petersburg police spokesman Mike Puetz said, according to The St. Petersburg Times.

"After he fell asleep on the ground, he claims that she attacked him, started yelling that she was a vampire, that she was going to eat him and started biting him by his face and body," Puetz said.

Blood dripping from bite marks on his neck and face, Ellis managed to scramble back into his motorized wheelchair and reach a nearby Shell gas station, where he called police.

Police: 'Vampire' said she remembers nothing
Police found Smith on the blood-stained Hooters porch, half-naked. She was covered in Ellis' blood and said she didn't remember anything about the attack, according to Tampa Bay's Fox 13 News. She wasn't injured and hadn't been assaulted, police said.

Ellis was hospitalized and given stitches and was expected to recover.

Smith was arrested and jailed on charges of aggravated battery on an elderly person, with bail set for $50,000.

The two had met earlier in the night. Ellis, who had no place to sleep Thursday night, said Smith, of Pensacola, had been dropped off at the Shell station by relatives earlier that evening. Because it was raining out, he suggested Smith take refuge with him under the Hooters overhang, according to The St. Petersburg Times.

Ellis offered to keep Smith company until someone came to pick her up, but he eventually fell asleep, reported The Times.

Smith was fully dressed when Ellis last saw her, he told authorities, even though they had found her half-naked.

Ellis has been arrested before too. He has been cited for multiple offensives in Penellas County, including panhandling, trespassing, and disorderly intoxication, The Times reported.