Officer bitten, scratched by woman during arrest

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A woman who had broken into a South Side apartment she had previously been evicted from scratched and bit a female officer early Saturday as the officer and her partner tried to arrest her.

The 46-year-old woman was eventually taken into custody and transported to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.

Around 4 a.m., someone saw the woman attempting to break into a boarded-up first-floor apartment in a building in the 1600 block of West 81st Street, and called police, Chicago Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.

The woman, who had previously been evicted from the apartment, used a hammer to pry apart the wood used to board up the entrance to the unit, police said.

Two uniformed Gresham District officers responded and found the front door to the apartment open and damaged, Mirabelli said. Soon after, they were confronted the combative woman, police said

“She challenged the officers to a fight, and refused to leave,” Mirabelli said. “At one point she threw a liquid from a mop bucket at the officers,” he noted.

As the officers tried to arrest the woman, she fought with them, biting and scratching the female officer. The 31-year-old officer suffered bites to her chest and hand and scratches to the face and chest. She was taken to a hospital for treatment of her injuries.