JAMESTOWN, N.D. (AP) -- A North Dakota man who lost a hand while making sausage says he was forced to cut off his arm above the wrist with a butcher knife when it became stuck in an electric meat mixer.

In his first public comments since the Aug. 17 accident, Myron Schlafman says he knew he ``was in big trouble'' when he accidentally stepped on a pedal activating the machine as he was taking meat out of the mixer.

Schlafman says he feared he would bleed to death. He said the bone was severed, and he had to use a knife to cut through muscle, nerves and skin to get free.

Schlafman credits two police officers with saving his life by quickly applying a tourniquet. He'll be fitted with a prosthetic in a few months.

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