Man tries to amputate own arm

**Xiphos** · 09-01-08, 05:27 PM

How to get a free meal at Denny's...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...-attempt_N.htm

Calif. man tries to amputate own arm

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) — Police say a man tried to cut off his own arm at a restaurant in Modesto, Calif., because he thought he had injected air into a vein while shooting cocaine and feared he would die unless he took drastic action.

Authorities say 33-year-old Michael Lasiter rushed into the Denny's restaurant late Friday and started stabbing himself in one arm with a butter knife he grabbed from a table.

They say that when that knife didn't work Lasiter took a butcher knife from the kitchen and dug it into his arm.

Police Sgt. Brian Findlen says Lasiter told officers he thought he needed to amputate his arm to keep himself from dying from the cocaine injection.

Lasiter was taken to a hospital for treatment of severe cuts.
The Denny's closed for the night.

**jmur5074** · 09-01-08, 06:44 PM

If only cocaine was legalized, all of these problems would stop!!!

**Rhino** · 09-01-08, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by jmur5074

If only cocaine was legalized, all of these problems would stop!!!

Yeah, because keeping it illegal is obviously working.

**jmur5074** · 09-01-08, 08:51 PM

Originally Posted by Rhino

Yeah, because keeping it illegal is obviously working.

**Xiphos** · 09-01-08, 09:42 PM

I'd rather lock them up than put it on the menu at Dennys.

**CTR man** · 09-02-08, 12:20 AM

WTF, how did I miss this one. I wonder which Denny's it was, Modesto has three of them.

Only in Modesto.....would you find someone stupid enough to do this. Yet I'm not the least bit surprised. Does it cost and arm and a leg to eat there? Maybe next time he should try shooting it in his neck.

Ok, now I know which one. AP left that information out. Both McHenry locations are in older parts of town, not surprised that it happed at this one in the least. Stupid Dumbass Druggie!!! The Vagabond Hotel next door has long been known for suspicious activity.

http://www.modbee.com/1623/story/412962.html

Man tries to cut off arm inside Modesto restaurant

last updated: August 30, 2008 05:34:15 PM

A 33-year-old man who tried cutting off his arm inside a busy Denny's restaurant because he believed it would save his life was arrested Friday night, according to Modesto police.

According to Sgt. Brian Findlen, Michael Lasiter, 33, of Modesto had been injecting cocaine in a nearby motel when he thought he had injected air into his veins, which can lead to death.

Findlen said the man believed that if he cut off his arm, he could save himself from dying.

Lasiter entered the restaurant at 1525 McHenry Ave. about 10:15 p.m. and grabbed a butter knife off a customer's table and began stabbing himself in the right arm near the biceps. When that didn't work, he ran into the kitchen and got a butcher knife and started "digging the knife into his arm," Findlen said.

Police arrived almost immediately and isolated the man. A few minutes later, they used a taser to subdue him.

"He wouldn't obey a substantial number of commands and continued to stab himself," Findlen said. "There were some tense moments, but a lot of patrons didn't know what was going on."

Lasiter was arrested and taken to a Modesto hospital to treat severe cuts to his arm.

Findlen has been in law enforcement for 11 years, and said he had "never seen anything like that before."

He said the restaurant closed for the evening to clean up.