Horrifying footage captured the moment a man held a human leg after the limb was severed in a train accident.

Stunned onlookers filmed from the road as Rosendo Tellez, 27, allegedly picked up the leg, sniffed it and waved it around on the streets of Wasco, California.

Kern County Sheriff's deputies arrested Tellez near the railroad tracks on misdemeanor charges of removing body parts from an area that is not a cemetery.

It came after an unidentified person was struck by an Amtrak train on Friday morning, instantly killing them and severing their leg. Investigations into the death are ongoing.

The man, identified by cops as Tellez, strolled casually down the street while grasping the leg in one hand.

He then bent over and sniffed the leg, wiped his mouth, and swung it around while officers closed in on the sickening episode.