A 51-year old man seeking sexual gratification with a vacuum cleaner nearly bleed to death when the machine cut off a half-inch of his penis, authorities said.

The intoxicated man first told police that someone had stabbed him in the crotch as he slept, Long Branch public safety director Louis Napoletano said.

However, officers who responded to Monday's call for help instead realized the man had hoped to obtain sexual pleasure from the appliance's suction, Napoletano said. "But what he didn't realize is that there's a blade in the vacuum cleaner right under where the hose attaches that pushes the dust into the collection bag," he said.