Florida man loses part of arm in wood chipper
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Authorities say a Florida man who works for a tree service lost part of an arm after it got caught in a wood chipper.
Alachua County Sheriff's spokesman Art Forgey says 60-year-old Roberto Serrano of Chiefland was putting tree branches into a chipper on Monday when his arm got pulled into the machine.
The Gainesville Sun reports Serrano was able to free himself from the wood chipper, but the arm was missing from the elbow down. An ambulance was driving nearby, heard a 911 call and stopped to give him emergency aid.
Forgey says a deputy also applied a tourniquet to control bleeding.
Serrano was in stable condition when he was taken to the hospital, he adds.
CBS affiliate WKMG in Orlando reports there were two tragedies involving wood chippers in Florida in 2014. In August of last year, a construction worker in Palm Beach County lost his arm in one. In June of 2014, a man in Davie was somehow pulled into a wood chipper and killed while cleaning debris.