Colorado man pinned by trailer amputates own toes

A Colorado man was forced to cut off his own toes after he found himself trapped under a six-ton trailer in a remote part of the state.

Jon Hutt, 61, had driven his logging truck into the woods on August 19 to retrieve some fallen Aspen trees, the Associated Press reports. Hutt, who owns a crane business, does logging "for fun" and planned to cut the Aspens for winter firewood. But before he was done, a trailer attached to his truck slipped.

"The trailer started to slide. It pinned my right foot right in there," Hutt told ABC News. "When I tried to move it, the pain would get worse."

There was no cell phone service, and Hutt realized no one could hear his cries. He had told his wife he would be back in several hours, but he wasn't sure when she would start looking for him. After about 30 minutes, he took out his three-inch pocketknife and started to amputate three of his own toes.

"I cut off my boot to see my foot, and once I realized how bad it was, I started cutting off my toes," Hutt said.

Hutt explained to ABC News why he only waited 30 minutes.

"I wanted to do it before I went into shock or dropped the knife or something like that," he said. "So I started cutting. I cut some, and then it was pretty painful, so I stopped to take a breath or two, and keep cutting until I finally got it cut off."

After he was free, Hutt stopped the bleeding with his shirt and drove until he had cell phone reception. He called for an ambulance, which met him on the road. According to the AP, he also left a voicemail message for his wife saying simply: "Please call, I cut my foot off." 

Doctors were unable to reattach the toes. But Hutt appears to have taken it all in stride.

"My insurance agent asked me why I called an ambulance," Hutt told ABC News. "He said I should have called a tow truck."