Neck injuries caused by being run over by a motor vehicle

We report a homicide involving the use of a motor vehicle and simulating a traffic accident. This observation was the reason for a retrospective analysis of neck injuries in victims of traffic accidents, in which a person has been run over (RO) by a motor vehicle. The autopsy material of two institutes from 1990-1996 was used. The following findings were obtained in 63 victims: laryngohyoid fractures (LH-fx): 10 cases (16%) with a clear difference between the institutes (22% versus 7%). This resulted from examination with special regard to such injuries in many cases at one of the institutes, whereas only autopsy reports were taken retrospectively from the other institute. Five of these cases had suffered only minor LH-fx (as seen frequently in strangulation), although extensive run over (RO) injuries of the other cervical tissues were present. All LH-fx were caused by direct compression of the neck; in eight of the cases they were combined with mandibular fractures. Petechial hemorrhages (petH) at the eye lids/conjunctivae were seen in 19 cases (30%); 16 of these were related to thorax RO injuries, three to abdominal RO only. Four cases involved LH-fx, petH as well as cervical skin lesions and additional cervical soft tissue hemorrhages. Interpretation can be extremely difficult with this combination of findings if the character of the event cannot be established as accidental beyond doubt on the basis of the circumstances.     

列车撞击伤及碾轧伤的损伤形态与成伤机制

目的总结列车撞击、碾轧伤的典型损伤形态，探讨其成伤机制。方法对103例列车撞击伤、84例列车碾轧伤案例进行回顾性分析。结果不同的致伤方式及受害者伤时状态不同，在损伤形态及成伤机制上有所差异。结论典型损伤形态可为推断致伤方式及受害者伤时状态提供依据。     

Fatal thoracic compression after being partially run over by an automobile

The authors report on a fatal pedestrian accident in which the victim lay on the street and got under a car being run over by one of the front wheels. Both the car driver and the killed pedestrian were strongly alcohol-intoxicated at the time of the accident (2.45 a.m.). After the car had come to a standstill, the pedestrian remained trapped under the car until she was rescued by the fire brigade. On the basis of the autopsy findings and the technical expert opinion it could be reconstructed that the pedestrian's death was not caused by the consequences of being run over by the car, but by the subsequent compression of her thorax in the final accident position.     

Tears in the clothing after being run over by an automobile wheel

Clothes taken from 120 bodies of victims in case of death due to car wheel overrunning were examined and in 10 cases shred-shaped tissue ruptures in the form of an angle were detected. They proved to appear in case of oblique direction in overrunning and the angle of a shred turned back was directed to the side of wheel rotatory movements, i.e. contrary to wheel translational movement.     

Atypical injury pattern of a pedestrian run over by an unimog in the epigastric region

Strongly intoxicated, a 37-year-old man fell in front of the right back wheel of an emergency vehicle (MB Unimog) and was run over according to eye witnesses. He died in hospital shortly afterwards. The autopsy revealed that he bled to death from a traumatic liver rupture (bursting of the right hepatic lobe and severing of a piece of tissue measuring 17 x 8 x 4 cm). There were no injuries classicaly seen in victims run over by a car. The atypical injury findings in this case are due to the special features of the accident vehicle: The Unimog (an all-wheel vehicle with a fixed rear axle and flat coils) struck the right side of the body lying on the street with its rear wheel and was then lifted over the body by its fixed axle without touching the left side.     

Determining direction in cases of bodies run over by automobile wheels

Investigation of injuries sustained by 110 pedestrians during fatal traffic accident and observed in 8 biomannequins during experimental overrun by car wheels resulted in detection of morphological features indicating overrun direction and posture of a victim. It was stated that in case of multiple trauma the areas of wheel rolling and primary force application in collision with a car are located at opposite sides.     

Fatalities after injuries by wild animals

The article summarises three fatalities after attacks by wild animals. The first case describes a 90-year-old woman who died as a result of pneumonia after a bear fell on her and caused multiple chest fractures. The second case deals with a 76-year-old woman who was hit in the middle face by the hoof of a camel and, thereafter, died of myocardial infarction. The third case describes a 27-year-old biologist who died from severe blunt trauma after an attack of a wild living elephant. The article gives a summary of typical injury patterns of selected wild animals and outlines potential reasons of death as a result of the injuries.     

Characteristic of injuries inflicted by a blank gunshot

The analysis of the data published in the special literature indicates that forensic-medical aspects of the injuries inflicted by blank shots fired from a variety of small-arms weapons remain poorly known or virtually unexplored. Despite considerable variability of such injuries, their forensic-medical examination should include three basic components, viz. the proof of the absence of the injurious action of the shot, differential diagnostics of the consequences of injuries attributable to each traumatic factor of the shot, and experimental simulation of the damages to the human body and the clothes taking into account concrete models of the weapons and the blank cartridge.     

Finding of a bullet in the cervical column of a body hit by a train

This case is about the finding of a body of an unidentified male of approximately 70 years of age who was hit by a train. During the carrying out of the corresponding autopsy and after the radiological tests for posterior odontological identification, a foreign body of a cylindrical-cone shape, identical to that of a bullet, was found lodged between the first and second cervical vertebrae. During dissection of the neck, a bullet was found. When the ballistic test was carried out, it was ascertained that the bullet was from a cartridge of 7.92 by 57-mm Mauser caliber, manufactured in Spain in 1936. This ammunition corresponds to that used during the Civil War in Spain (1936-1939). After the identification of the body, it was proved that the bullet was the result of a war wound. However, the victim had been unaware of the existence of the bullet, which had remained in his body for 50 years.     

Injury pattern on the hand after slipping onto the blade during a knife attack--a contribution to the differential diagnostic classification of sharp force injuries of the upper extremities

Differential diagnosis of injuries caused by accidental slipping of the hand onto the blade of a knife includes self-inflicted injuries (e.g. to simulate an offense) as well as active and passive defense injuries indicative of the involvement of another party. The injury pattern on the hands of five perpetrators who suffered accidental cuts during knife attacks, as seen by the authors during the clinical forensic examination, is presented. The injuries were localized on the ulnar aspect of the thumb facing the index finger, the radial aspect of the index finger facing the thumb and variable sites on the flexor or extensor side of the middle and ring fingers. Especially in those cases in which the injuries of the victim (e.g. involvement of bony structures) and the dominant hand of the perpetrator are known, additional information for the reconstruction of the course of events may be derived from the cut wounds occurring during the knife attack as the hand slipped onto the blade.