Video: The obligatory “farmer saws off his arm to save his life” clip
posted at 3:07 pm on November 25, 2007 by Allahpundit
He’s got the right name, the right accent, even the right home state. And so the race is on: Which Republican candidate will secure mighty Sampson’s endorsement?
Or is he — a Democrat?
Blowback
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They forgot to add that you always turn off any machine before working on it. This was a hard lesson that no one should have to learn.
Royce on November 25, 2007 at 3:33 PM
Exactly why is this obligatory?
rmgraha on November 25, 2007 at 4:04 PM
Having grown up in Iowa I’ve heard more than my fair share of these stories. :( Like Royce says, ALWAYS turn off machinery before trying to perform any type of work on it.
Afterimage on November 25, 2007 at 4:04 PM
File under “The will to live”.
Zorro on November 25, 2007 at 4:15 PM
Is this person qualified to operate heavy machinery?
Let alone allowed to drive a car.
Kini on November 25, 2007 at 4:22 PM
I’ve known a few Amishmen who weren’t so lucky. Often those machines just suck you right through.
amend2 on November 25, 2007 at 4:26 PM
a Democrat? No.. he mentioned God without spittle coming out of his mouth.. :)
GoodBoy on November 25, 2007 at 4:48 PM
My uncle had the same thing happen to him 30 + years ago in Southern Minnesota. He got his hand stuck in the combine and cut his own hand off to save his life. After a short period of adjustment he could do everything he had done before. I often wondered how he had the bravery to cut his own hand off and how much pain he had to endure.
Yes it was stupid to stick the arm in there when the combine was running however I am sure farmers do this all the time without getting their arm caught. It’s like the guy who drives the same path day in and day out and does not stop at that one stop sign – there is never a car coming then one day there is a car coming that he does not see and then gets hit.
ordi on November 25, 2007 at 4:51 PM
Notice the editorializing: “Parker tried calling out for help. No one answered” read over a shot of the sun peeking through the clouds.
That’s God laughing at him. Or, there is no God.
Pablo on November 25, 2007 at 4:54 PM
We had a women killed here this fall by getting sucked into a combine. She was driving a truck and the two stories were she went into the field to pea and didn’t go far enough in and the combine came up faster than she realized. I also heard she went into pea and had and suffered a major myocardial infarction and was alread dead when the picker got her.
boomer on November 25, 2007 at 6:18 PM
That guy’s attitude was great. Positive and Thankful.
BadgerHawk on November 25, 2007 at 6:48 PM
I was visiting relatives in Columbia this weekend and saw this on the local news. Not only did he cut his own arm off with a pocket knife, the arm doing the cutting was on fire the whole time. Amazing. The local news people were even warning viewers of how traumatic just watching the clip could be.
Dudley Smith on November 25, 2007 at 7:23 PM
So I take it that you are new to Hot Air and the works of the Allahpundit.
billy on November 25, 2007 at 7:29 PM
I was reading about this on an Agricultural forum last night. One other guy related how this same thing had happened to a fellow farmer before. He cut his arm off, tied it up with a shoe lace, then drove the tractor and machinery back to his farm.
Not sure of your question Kini. Are you suggesting he’s too dumb to do so?
Farming is one of the most dangerous jobs in the US. Quite often a farmer is in a hurry trying to beat the rain or some other issue, thinking of a million things, and all it takes is one second of not paying attention.
A classmate in High School had his arm caught in a baler. Luckily a friend was along and shut off the machinery before it pulled it off.
My brother lost his lower leg in another farm accident.
91Veteran on November 25, 2007 at 9:21 PM
Lets see: He took matters into his own hands (no pun intended), rescued himself, probably realizes he is not so smart for messing with dangerous equipment like that without shutting it off first (thus his fault), and then never tries to find a way to blame this on Bush or anything political (like farm subsidies).
He shows too many signs of self accountability and responsibility. That does not sound like a typical democrat, and especially not a far left liberal.
Glad he survied.
El Guapo on November 25, 2007 at 9:34 PM
I had a good friend get his hand sliced in half, long ways, from between his middle and ring finger down to his wrist, when he thought he could snatch a foreign object out of a grain auger while it was running. He admitted it was dumb and regretted it.
Farming is one dangerous (besides laborsom) business. Luckily he did not lose his hand, just feeling and some control in two fingers.
El Guapo on November 25, 2007 at 9:40 PM
The first commentor stated the obvious.
I just asked the obvious.
Kini on November 25, 2007 at 10:18 PM
Understatement of the century at about the 1:14 mark:
He’s got his arm stuck in a corn picker that catches fire, he’s trying to put the flames out and cut off his own hand, but it’s when “the skin is just dripping off [his] arm like melted plastic” that then he’s says “now I know I’m in trouble”??
Geez.
Captain Scarlet on November 26, 2007 at 12:44 PM