Washington Man Cuts Off Arm With Homemade Guillotine

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -

Police say a homeless man who lived in the woods with others made a guillotine and cut off his own arm. After severing the arm, he went to a nearby walk-in clinic where the medical staff called for an ambulance. The man was airlifted Harborview Medical Center in Seattle along with his self-amputated arm in the hopes of re-attaching it.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that police officers armed with a chainsaw went to dismantle the guillotine. Mark Young, the police department's public information officer, said the apparatus was constructed out of 2 x 6 x at least 12-foot tall timbers. The materials and a makeshift blade were apparently found by scavenging the local area.