Kurt Kaser, 63, was moving grain from one silo to another when he was pulled into an auger – a tube with an interior shaped like a screw.
He was forced to cut off his lower leg with a 3in (7.6cm) pen knife and crawl to the nearest phone for help.
The farmer was working alone on his 1,500-acre (607-hectare) property on 19 April when the accident occurred.
'I didn't have no other choice,' Nebraska farmer Kurt Kaser tells me of his life-or-death decision to saw off his leg with a pocket knife when it became stuck in a grain auger – @ABC News – https://t.co/OMscYLqxKR
— Bill Hutchinson (@bill_hutchinson) May 14, 2019
Unable to find his phone to call for help, Mr Kaser watched as the machine tore his foot off and mangled his lower leg as it pulled him further inside.
The farmer then took out his pen knife and cut off what remained of his limb below the knee.
Mr Kaser said he had removed a safety covering at the end of the auger in the winter to make the equipment fit under a grain bin, and told ABC News he was “kind of disappointed in myself that I didn’t think of fixing that thing”.
“But that’s why they call it accidents I guess.”
just like johnny unitas, he should’ve retired earlier
The kind of thing mcconnell would do for our country, if he had to.
Or maybe not.
If it was obama in that position, he’d look to cut off someone else’s leg. If it was that beast michelle watching, she’d eat the leg.
If it was clinton watching, she’d charge the guy to call for help. Paid in advance.
Ouch!
Our farmers aren’t soft city dwellers. I hope he now has help to run his farm.
Accident? no. Negligence.
Easily preventable. All equipment was operating as designed and no outside influence. All your own actions.
Not really a victim when you’re the cause.
He admitted his actions lead to the accident.
Any lawsuit claiming any other causes is now a waste of time.
Even the “strip mall lawyers” won’t take it.
If you want to see true grit. Lookup a fella on YouTube, Harmless Farmer.
Yes, he has no arms.
I can barely thread a nut while hanging upside down with two able hands. He does everything with his feet!
He should’ve just left then grain in the bin to rot. No money to be had in selling it. Thanks to Trump!
A very wise mentor of my youth used to say that if an enemy bombed European cities, they would destroy the country. If they bombed US cities, we would be stronger.
never a dull moment for this guy.
I’m stumped as to how it happened.
He’ll have a leg up on the competition.