Man not tickled by ear licking, police say

A "wet Willie" that went awry is blamed for a domestic-violence incident that landed a Kitsap County man in jail last weekend.

The 23-year-old Silverdale man and his girlfriend had been out drinking with friends Saturday before they returned to their apartment and went to bed, according to the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office. Police said the woman, 21, claimed she playfully tried to wake her boyfriend by licking her finger and tickling the inside of his ear.

The man got mad and started violently jabbing his finger in his girlfriend's ear, police said.

"This caused some cuts and bleeding at the time," a sheriff's deputy wrote in the police report. "Then he got on top of her and started saying very mean things to her."

The woman, who called police Sunday, said her boyfriend pinned her down, pushed her face into a pillow and struck her. He claimed she had annoyed him and had slapped him and bitten him first.

The man was arrested Sunday and charged with fourth-degree domestic-violence assault. He was being held in lieu of $5,000 bail in Kitsap County Jail.

According to urbandictionary.com, a wet Willie or wet willy is "a prank in which the prankster licks or spits on his or her finger, sticks it in the victim's ear hole and turns it round and round."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com