Man who pretended he was attacked for looking like a neo-Nazi actually stabbed himself

A US man who pretended he was attacked for looking like a neo-Nazi had actually accidentally cut his own hand, police said.

Joshua Witt admitted he lied when he falsely claimed a black man had stabbed him after taking offence at his haircut, which he said was popular with white supremacists.

Witt, 26, first made the unfounded allegations in a Facebook post which showed pictures of Witt’s hand and leg covered in blood and the words: “So apparently I look like a neo-Nazi and got stabbed for it… luckily I put my hands up to stop it so he only stabbed my hand.”

According to police in Colorado, Witt had told them that the alleged attacker approached him in the car park of a burger restaurant and said: “Are you [one] of them neo-Nazis?”

He then claimed the attacker tried to stab him with a small knife.

But officers got to the bottom of the claims and discovered Witt had fabricated his whole story. Witt has now been arrested on suspicion of false reporting, the Guardian reported.

On Monday, the chief of Sheridan police department, Mark Campbell, gave an interview, saying officers were dubious of the story from the beginning.

He said: “No one else called this in. No one heard him scream. No one saw any type of altercation. That was the first red flag.”

The police chief added: “He was opening up the knife package in the car and he cut himself. I don’t believe he showed any remorse. Our take is he kind of made this up and it kind of got out of control when it went on Facebook.”