Man accused of severing mother’s arm with chainsaw, injuring two police officers

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE/Gray News) - A man is accused of severing his mother’s arm with a chainsaw and injuring two police officers in New Orleans.

Authorities said John Pittman, 34, attacked his 70-year-old mother with a chainsaw Monday afternoon.

The woman called the police after fleeing to a relative’s home more than three miles away. It is unclear how she made it that far in her condition.

The district attorney’s office says her arm was hanging on by skin. Doctors were reportedly able to save her arm.

“That’s crazy. It’s the same stuff you see on TV,” said Tawain Crockett, who lives nearby and claims a neighbor was always having issues with him.

Neighbors said what happened will stick with them.

“I wasn’t expecting for it to happen in my own neighborhood,” one neighbor said. “It’s heartbreaking. It’s scary.”

Officers located Pittman, and during the encounter, two officers sustained “mild to moderate” injuries, according to police. A female officer suffered multiple abrasions, neck, head and right lower leg injuries. The second officer, a man, was bitten on the left arm.

Pittman’s mother was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The officers were also taken to a hospital for treatment.

“It’s a very unfortunate incident when you look at it,” Public Information Officer Reese Harper said. “When you have anybody that is injured in that manner or seriously cut, that sounds like someone with a mental issue, for one. To do harm to your mom, you know? That’s your mom.”

Pittman was arrested and booked for attempted first degree murder, battery of a police officer, resisting an officer and disarming an officer.

The two injured officers were both released from the hospital Tuesday. The male officer returned to work, and the female officer will return to duty in “a couple of days.”

Police said Pittman is also accused of brutally attacking a 73-year-old military veteran passing at a bus station last year.

The victim in that case was on his way back home to Washington and made a pit stop in New Orleans, where he was found lying in a pool of blood in the bus station’s bathroom. He suffered a fractured eye socket and fractured jaw bone.

The district attorney’s office calls Pittman an extreme danger to the community and those closest to him.

“Pittman’s most recent acts are disturbing, and that his victims have been elderly and those sworn to protect, they are telling of his dangerous to the community at large,” read a statement in part.

Pittman is being held on an increased $300,000 bond for the attack at the bus station over $1 million in the alleged attack on his mother.

Pittman’s defense attorney says his client has a history of mental illness and was not taking his medication. A mental competency hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

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