Deaths Resulting from the Use of Firearms by Police Against Motor Vehicles: Study of Cases in Porto, Portugal

Highlights

• Bullets that struck the occupants were FMJ type and exhibited a deformed structure but no significant loss of mass.
• Entry holes in the victim's body were larger than the calibre of bullets.
• Death occurred immediately after the victim was shot only in one case, despite a vital structure has been hit in all cases.

The objective of this study was to investigate the terminal ballistics of police shootings in which the bullets went through any motor vehicle structure before fatally wounding the occupants. 6 cases that occurred in Porto district between 1998 and 2013 were studied. 

The firearms used were 7.65 mm (n = 1) or 9 mm (n = 3) calibre semi-automatic pistols and 9 mm calibre submachine guns (n = 2); the bullets were full metal jacket type. The metal jacket of the collected projectiles was totally or partially destroyed in 3 cases. It exhibited a deformed structure in all cases. The trajectories of the bullets in the vehicles were always more or less linear, even when initial impact was at an oblique angle. The entry holes in the victims' bodies were larger or much larger in size than the calibre of the bullets. They were located, with the exception of one of the cases, in the left half of the body. The trajectories in the victims' bodies were from front to back, in one case, and from back to front in all others. Exit wounds were only found in two cases. Death occurred immediately after the victim was shot only in one case, despite a vital structure has been hit in all cases. 

The cases studied support the idea that the use of firearms against vehicles with the sole intention of immobilisation entails uncontrollable danger to the lives of the occupants, and especially when done by police forces not specifically trained for that purpose. Therefore, such use of firearms should be avoided.

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By:  Rodrigues E1, Faria P2, Santos A3, Fraga S4.

• 1Faculty of Medicine of Porto University, Department of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319, Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: ezrodrigues@gmail.com.
• 2Faculty of Law of Catholic University of Portugal, Rua Diogo Botelho, 1327, 4160-005, Porto, Portugal.
• 3National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Department of Pathology - North Branch, Jardim Carrilho Videira, 4050-167, Porto, Portugal; Faculty of Medicine of Porto University, Department of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319, Porto, Portugal; School of Health Sciences of Minho University, Campus Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal; Center of Forensic Sciences, National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Largo da Sé Nova, 3000-213, Coimbra, Portugal.
• 4EPIUnit - Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Rua das Taipas, 135, 4050-600, Porto, Portugal.
• J Forensic Leg Med. 2016 Jan 12;39:1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2016.01.010.  

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National Trends: Mapping Police Violence

Via:  http://goo.gl/Hmmw2H

Police Accountability Tool: Mapping Police Violence

Via:  http://goo.gl/3KqR3h

Police Violence: City Comparison Tool

Via:   http://goo.gl/2JsGll

Police Violence: State Comparison Tool

Via:  http://goo.gl/ZQt5vq

Mapping Police Violence

Via:  http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/

Who Shot Ya? How Emergency Departments Can Collect Reliable Police Shooting Data

This paper examines an alternative solution for collecting reliable police shooting data. 

One alternative is the collection of police shooting data from hospital trauma units, specifically hospital-based violence intervention programs. These programs are situated in Level I trauma units in many major cities in USA. 

While the intent of these programs is to reduce the risk factors associated with trauma recidivism among victims of violent injury, they also collect reliable data on the number of individuals treated for gunshot wounds. While most trauma units do a great job collecting data on mode of injury, many do not collect data on the circumstances surrounding the injury, particularly police-involved shootings. 

Research protocol on firearm-related injury conducted in emergency departments typically does not allow researchers to interview victims of violent injury who are under arrest. Most victims of nonfatal police-involved shootings are under arrest at the time they are treated by the ED for their injury. Research protocol on victims of violent injury often excludes individuals under arrest; they fall under the exclusion criteria when recruiting potential participants for research on violence. Researchers working in hospital emergency departments are prohibited from recruited individuals under arrests. The trauma staff, particularly ED physicians and nurses, are in a strategic position to collect this kind of data. 

Thus, this paper examines how trauma units can serve as an alternative in the reliable collection of police shooting data.

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By:   Richardson JB Jr1,2.

• 1Department of African-American Studies, College Park, MD, USA. jrichar5@umd.edu.
• 2Violence Intervention Research Project, Prince George's Hospital Trauma Center, Cheverly, MD, USA. jrichar5@umd.edu. 

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