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At the request of St. Joseph's University Medical Center physicians, responders quickly got the severed limb to the hospital, Paterson Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said.
A driver apparently had suffered a medical episode on Union Avenue and hit the victim at Manchester Avenue, pinning him against a parked car shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, Speziale said.
Police, firefighters and EMTs who converged on the scene found the victim on the sidewalk, the director said.
His lower right leg below the knee had been ripped off, he said.
His rescuers applied a tourniquet before the victim was taken to St. Joseph's University Medical Center, he said.
Doctors at the hospital requested the severed limb also be safely rushed there immediately in the hopes of reattaching it, Speziale said.
Firefighters winched the vehicles apart, recovered the limb and bagged it.
Police got ice from a local liquor store and poured it in.
The bag was turned over to the Fire Department's EMS 6 unit, which had a police escort to the hospital.
"The patient was last reported to be in stable condition undergoing surgery," Speziale said.
The crash area was secured by police and treated as a crime scene, the director said, adding that the investigation was continuing.
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