Police: Wash. man severed own arm with guillotine

[October 28, 2011]  BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) -- Police in Bellingham, Wash., say a man who walked into a medical clinic with his right arm severed has indicated he cut his own limb off with a homemade guillotine.

Officers who checked a wooded area near the urology clinic Thursday found the severed arm and the guillotine in a transient camp. The victim and the arm were taken first to St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham.

Police spokesman Mark Young says the man was later airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in hopes the limb could be reattached. Young tells The Bellingham Herald the arm was severed above the elbow.

The victim was not identified and his condition was not immediately known.

Young says police will dismantle the guillotine.

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Information from: The Bellingham Herald, http://www.bellinghamherald.com/

[Associated Press]

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