Man, 39, cut off his penis and threw it out of the car window while he was being chased by police in Tennessee: Says he heard voices on the radio telling him it ‘would save the world’

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A man severed his penis and threw it out of his car window then claimed voices on the radio told him it would save the world. 

Tyson Gilbert, 39, from Cookeville, Putnam County TN, led police officers on a wild car chase through two counties in Tennessee as he hared towards the Interstate on Wednesday morning.

A Tennessee highway patrolman was the first to see Gilbert had mutilated himself after seeing the man, who was driving naked, covered in blood. 

He was eventually stopped by members of the Alexandria Police Department who managed to box in his car on the highway just before he reached the Interstate.

He was taken into custody and transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, though it is not known if his appendage was retrieved for reattachment.    

Tyson Gilbert, 39, reportedly severed his penis because voices on the radio told him it would save the world. He was arrested after a police chase in Tennessee on Wednesday

Gilbert, who was charged in 2020 with four counts of attempted car theft and resisting arrest by the Nashville Airport Police, was first approached by highway patrolman Bobby Johnson as his Honda Accord was partially parked in the road on the highway in Dowelltown.

When Trooper Johnson approached the car, Gilbert took off down the highway.

'When I pulled up behind him and turned my lights on he took off and refused to stop,' said Johnson.

'He turned off on Old Liberty Road and came to a stop. He opened his door. He was naked and covered in blood. He then shut his door and kept driving.'

Cars from the Alexandria Police Department began to gave chase, but Gibert led them from Dowelltown into Wilson county, and then into Watertown. 

The police managed to lay down spikes on the road which burst Gilbert's tires, but he kept control of the vehicle into Watertown and was heading for the Interstate.

Fortunately, the damage caused by the road spikes severely hampered Gilbert's car and forced him to slow down as he was driving on flat tires. 

'The first spike strips got one of his front tires and the second got the other tire. After that it became a slow speed pursuit with him running on his rims until we boxed him in,' Trooper Johnson told local radio station WLJE.

Gilbert was stopped and arrested just before he managed to reach the Interstate, but by that time members from six different law enforcement departments - Cookeville and Nashville highway patrol, the DeKalb County and Wilson Country Sheriff's Department and the Alexandria and Watertown Police Department -  had all been involved in the car chase.  

Gilbert was arrested just before he reached the Interstate, but was promptly transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Facebook users who commented on Gilbert's predicament painted a picture of a tormented and aggressive man.

'I worked with this man and he is not a good person,' said one user.

'He almost hit me with his truck on the job site.'

Another user described his predicament as 'tragic' having found out that Gilbert had previously been arrested and charged with several offences in Cookeville. He was previously incarcerated in Putnam Country Jail in 2017.

In 2020, Gilbert was arrested for trying to steal four different rental cars from EAN Rental Company in Cookeville. Shawn Nixon, the rental manager, told officers that Gilbert attempted to drive out of the garage in a 2020 Audi Q3, a 2020 Audi A5, a 2019 Chevy Malibu, and a 2020 Nissan Rogue. 

Gilbert was arrested and charged with three counts of attempted theft of property, attempted theft of services, and resisting arrest, and was jailed on a $61,000 bond. It is not clear when he was released from custody. 

The investigation into Wednesday's incident is still ongoing.