While riding the mechanical bull Sept. 3 at Minerpalooza, a portion of the finger of Adrian Cuellar, 26, was ripped off. The incident took place at approximately 11 p.m.
"The pain was just numb," Cuellar said. "On a scale of one to 10, it was a three."
Cuellar was first driven to University Medical Center where he was directed by the staff to go to Del Sol Medical Center to see if reattachment of the portion of the finger that was removed was possible. After examination at Del Sol, Cuellar was informed by the medical staff that reattachment of the finger was not possible due to extensive nerve damage.
"They couldn't reattach it," said Christopher Kapuscik, senior history major and a close friend of Cuellar. "The nerves were too little to be attached."
Kapuscik witnessed the incident at Minerpalooza, drove Cuellar to the hospital and was in the hospital when the diagnosis for Cuellar's finger was given.
"It was on his pinky (finger) and the part that ripped off is the first part of his finger, like where the nail is," Kapuscik said.
The detached portion of Cuellar's finger was found underneath the hand strap on the mechanical bull.
"He (Cuellar) was riding on the bull and he got knocked off pretty quickly and when he stood up he was holding his left hand," said Erin Bemis, senior nursing major and friend to Cuellar. "I knew something was wrong when I saw the blood on the inflatable ring that surrounds the mechanical bull, then he said, ‘my finger is missing'."
According to Bemis, the staff member originally did not want to touch the portion of the finger. Eventually, he did pick it up and handed it to Cuellar.
Cuellar was attending Minerpalooza with several friends who attend UTEP and his younger brother, Omar Cuellar.
Sergio Ramirez may be reached at prospector@utep.edu. Vanessa Juarez contributed to this story.
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