Reconstruction of a Shooting Incident to Determine Position of Shooter and Timing of Each Shot Fired - Abstract
This case report presents the engineering analysis and findings related to a litigated matter. This matter involved an altercation between a member of law enforcement and the driver of an automobile. Multiple shots were fired by the law enforcement individual, striking both the vehicle and the driver. Based on the physical evidence (location of the driver’s bullet wounds, bullet holes in the car, and cartridge casings at the scene), standard shooting incident reconstruction techniques were used to determine the position of the shooter with respect to the vehicle when each shot was fired. In addition, based on the vehicle’s acceleration, the laws of physics were used to determine the speed of the vehicle and the temporal sequence of the shots fired.