Crimes Below the Belt II: Beheaded
A Slice at the Pizza Parlor
The London restaurant Zizzi in The Strand is well known for its tasty pizzas. However, on April 22, 2007, it also became known for a shocking incident involving an unidentified man alleged to be a 35-year-old Polish national. As customers sat and enjoyed their fare that Sunday evening, an unidentified man ran into the crowded establishment, heading directly to the kitchen. Despite efforts to stop him, the man grabbed a knife and frantically waved it around. To the shock and horror of diners, he then jumped on a table, pulled down his pants and forcefully cut off his penis.
Stuart McMahon, who was dining with his girlfriend, said that as soon as the man brandished the knife, "everyone began screaming and running out" of the restaurant, the Guardian Unlimited reported. The man, who had no known connection to the restaurant, also sliced his wrists and repeatedly stabbed himself in other parts of his body. Patrons said that the amount of blood at the scene was staggering. The police were immediately called to the restaurant and managed to subdue him with CS tear gas to incapacitate him temporarily before taking him to St. Thomas' Hospital in Southwark for emergency treatment, John Dunne reported for the Guardian.
The man's penis was retrieved from the restaurant floor and packed in ice in an attempt to preserve it. Doctors worked for seven hours to try and sew the appendage back on in one of Britain's first penis reattachment surgeries. It is not known if the surgery was a success. It is unclear if the man had a history of mental illness. What is clear, said a source cited by The Sun is that "he's clearly not a well boy."