The Bothell High School shop teacher who faked an attack after school last May told investigators he was actually attempting suicide because of debt and to save his legacy, according to interview tapes with Bothell police released to the media.

After failing a polygraph test, Cal Pygott, 63, came clean to Bothell police detectives what actually happened in his shop class last spring.

“I put a zip tie around my neck, hit myself on the head with a hammer three or four times, was on the floor, got up realized I wanted to live,” Pygott told investigators during the three hour interview.

He said he made up the story to try and save his reputation.

“If it somehow looked like it was not me, the legacy, the integrity, and everything else would stay intact,” Pygott said.

Pygott originally told investigators he was attacked from behind. He said he was hit on the head in his wood shop classroom with an object and then the attacker put the zip tie around his neck and left him to die.

But in reality Pygott had done it to himself because he says he has financial trouble and didn’t want to saddle his family with the burden.

“(If you have) a mountain of debt, you’re worth more dead than you are alive,” Pygott said.

Pygott remains on paid administrative leave, pending a decision by Northshore School District Administration. District Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid said the news of an attempted suicide had no impact on the district’s timeline of a decision. He was hired at Bothell High School in 199, and is a Bothell High graduate.

A district spokesperson said the district couldn’t release performance reviews except for letters of reprimand, none of which exist in Pygott’s file.

The Reporter will update this story when more information is available. Staff writer John William Howard contributed to this report.