An oil-field worker at a remote Western Slope site accidentally cut his own throat with a knife, barely missing his carotid artery, authorities said.
The unidentified man was flown this morning from a job site near Meeker to a Grand Junction hospital after falling in the dark and stabbing himself in the neck, according to the Rio Blanco Sheriff’s Office.
The injured man — from Alberta, Canada — was found at about 5 a.m. this morning in the supervisors’ sleeping quarters at a site in the Piceance Creek Basin area, about 30 miles southwest of Meeker, said Undersheriff Michael Joos.
“It occurred in the sleeping quarters; it was not an industrial accident,” Joos said. The 48-year-old victim was walking in the dark in his sleeping quarters sometime between 4 and 4:20 a.m. holding a Leatherman knife with a 4-inch blade when he fell, Joos said.
The injured man was flown by helicopter to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, Joos said.
Details on his condition were not available.
The man doesn’t recall whether he tripped or passed out, Joos said.
Investigators were told the man uses the knife to trim his nails, Joos said.
Joos said there was no sign of a struggle in the room, and investigators believe the victim’s injuries were accidental.
“It’s just one of those freaky things,” Joos said.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
