Prosecutors: Bensenville woman bit South Barrington officer

A Bensenville woman who authorities say struck her male companion with her fists and bit a South Barrington police officer on the thigh was ordered held on $45,000 bail Monday.

Amber Perchelli, 22, was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery and aggravated battery to a police officer. If convicted of the most serious crime, she faces up to seven years in prison.

At 2:34 a.m. Sunday, a South Barrington officer stopped to investigate a parked car with its hazard lights on near the intersection of Penny Road and Revere Drive. In a nearby ditch, the officer encountered Perchelli striking her male companion with her fist, said Cook County Assistant state's Attorney David Mennie.

The officer ordered the woman to stop and told her to roll over on her stomach with her hands behind her back. She refused and elbowed the officer, who took her to the Hoffman Estates Police Department, where she was handcuffed to a bench in the general lock-up, Mennie said.

Mennie said the woman was "combative from the start," refused to cooperate with officers, threatened them with an accusation of sexual assault and uttered racial slurs.

A female Schaumburg police officer arrived to conduct a search, but as officers attempted to remove Perchelli from the general lock-up to conduct the search, she bit the original arresting officer in the thigh, Mennie said. The officer was treated and released, Mennie said.

Perchelli next appears in court on April 14.