Man Saws Off Arms in Home Depot, Off-Duty Paramedic Art Hurtado Came to the Rescue [PHOTOS]
Off-duty Pasadena Fire Captain/Paramedic Art Hurtado was just going through his normal Wednesday life until an unnamed man publicly sawed-off his arms inside the Home Depot store in West Covina, Los Angeles. The courageous paramedic did the best he can to save the injured man.
A paramedic veteran for 21 years, Art Hurtado grabbed materials from the store shelves to stop the bleeding from the man's arms. "I kind of MacGyver-ed it," Hurtado shared on Thursday. The paramedic was referring to the famous TV series secret agent character using whatever materials around that can help in solving problems.
Art Hurtado saw blood in the aisles with the hysterical shoppers running around the store. "It looks like a crime scene to me, a dead body. There's splatter everywhere, I'd say another 50, 75 feet of blood," Hurtado shared.
The paramedic immediately decided that he must do something to save the man's life and asked for a quarter-inch rope and towels to place a tourniquet for the one bleeding arm. "I'm not on duty, I don't have all the equipment that I normally have," he said.
According to the brave paramedic, the man had cut the arms through the nerves, tendons and arteries to the bone above both elbows. "Without fast medical help, he could have died. It's just things you do instinctively. I'm here to serve. Any one of my brothers and sisters in the department would have done the same thing," Hurtado shared.
"The man was all by himself when he injured himself," West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez stated. The horrifying incident is currently being investigated as an attempted suicide with the authorities working hard in determining the reason why the man decided to mutilate himself in public.
"We don't know anything about his history, motive and concerns at this point," Lopez said. The unexpected event that happened on an early Wednesday still remains fresh in the memory of the Home Depot employees and customers.
"When they picked him up, his arm practically fell off and they had to pick it up. I pray for his family and hope he gets the help he needs," an anonymous employee stated.
West Covina police officially updated on Thursday that the surgeons who conducted the operation on the injured man's arms are confident in saving both of the arms thought the patient is still in a critical condition.
"While the arms were in very, very bad condition with the flesh dangling from the bone, the doctors felt they were able to reconnect all the vital organs and parts within the arm and felt confident at the end of the day that they were able to save his limbs," West Covina Police Cpl. Rudy Lopez declared.