rubber bullet injuries

In theory, rubber bullets are supposed to cause less harm than a “regular” bullet. As protesters filled the streets of downtown San Jose, Calif., recently, the police fired munitions known as rubber bullets into the crowd — a common technique to disperse throngs. Aim and scope: We intend to study the functional and aesthetic impairments and the cost in terms of social health resulting from rubber-bullet facial trauma. Twitter is filled with comments from people who were hit by rubber bullets over the weekend. An autopsy examination of a man who was shot with improved rubber bullets revealed that the bullet caused pulmonary contusion. Most of the disabilities included blindness, removal of the spleen, and removal of a section of the bowel. Rubber bullets are a type of “less lethal” weapon, but they can still cause injuries, including severe ones. A variety of rubber bullets have been used in the world, and they have occasionally produced severe or lethal injuries. ❗If you are a protestor or bystander who gets hit by a rubber bullet and experience heavy bleeding, deep bruising, or other worrisome symptoms, head to the ER immediately. Here’s what you need to know about the injuries they can cause, according to doctors. An autopsy examination of a man who was shot with improved rubber bullets revealed that the bullet caused pulmonary contusion. Injuries in these areas are thought to be more severe due to the fact that the elasticity and the viscosity is lower. Mechanical injury to the eye can occur from the metal tear gas canister, similar to that from a rubber bullet. The injuries in 90 patients caused by rubber bullets are described. 2006 Oct;31(3):325-30. doi: 10.1016/j.jemermed.2005.09.022. Research backs that up. Rubber bullets (also called rubber baton rounds) are a type of Baton round. Epub 2020 Aug 5. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — In a video posted online, Tee Fansofa shows injuries they say happened on Saturday as protesters were met by law enforcement officers in Sacramento. Los Angeles, Portland Oregon, and Austin, Texas are identified in the research as locations where head injuries happened more frequently resulting … The group found 26 studies on the use of rubber bullets around the world, documenting a total of 1,984 injuries. NIH Almost all the literature about rubber bullet injuries pertains to injuries of the eyes, chest, brain and the abdomen. Although rubber bullets from NLHHWs are designed to induce blunt injuries to incapacitate violent individuals without using firearms, they might induce death as well as severe trauma with irreversible functional consequences and long-term social implications. Dion Brown, 20, says a Fort Lauderdale police officer shot him from close range with a rubber bullet, injuring his jaw, during a protest Sunday. Leonov SV, Mikhaĭlenko AV, Slautinskaia AV. Go here to subscribe to Prevention and get 12 FREE gifts. That begs the question: What exactly are rubber bullets made of if they can cause this type of harm? Less-lethal rubber-bullet weapons are designed to induce blunt injuries that incapacitate violent individuals. 3 Unlike plastic bullets, rubber bullets cause more severe injuries to the head, 4 Get the latest public health information from CDC: https://www.coronavirus.gov, Get the latest research information from NIH: https://www.nih.gov/coronavirus, Find NCBI SARS-CoV-2 literature, sequence, and clinical content: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sars-cov-2/. Chile is one country that has tamped down on the use of rubber bullets. I had just interviewed a man with my phone at 3rd and Pine and a police officer aimed and shot me in the throat, I saw the bullet bounce onto the street @LAist @kpcc OK, that’s one way to stop me, for a while pic.twitter.com/9C2u5KmscG. J Emerg Med. Less-Lethal Weapons Resulting in Ophthalmic Injuries: A Review and Recent Example of Eye Trauma. In California, a 59-year-old woman was hospitalized in an intensive-care unit and later entered a coma after she was shot between the eyes with either a rubber bullet or a beanbag round, which is also categorized as a nonlethal weapon. Data sources PubMed, Scopus, JSTOR and grey literature. They are a less lethal alternative to metal projectiles, but can still cause serious injuries such as blindness, permanent disability, and death. “When they make contact with a person’s trunk, head, or neck they can cause more serious injuries,” Dr. Larrimore says. That psychologically combined with inadequate weapon training programs, beyond what’s taught in police academies, make rubber bullets potentially serious weapons, says Coursen. The bullet was 30 g in weight and consisted of a sponge foam nose with 40-mm diameter and a plastic body. 2018 May;32:52-56. doi: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2018.02.009. “These weapons are supposed to be used with proportionate force, like when they’re absolutely required, which is not what you see in the protests that are going on now.”. Over the past week, police departments across the country have fired rubber bullets into crowds of peaceful protesters, causing extensive injuries. According to Glatter, depending on where a person is hit, rubber bullet impacts have been "linked to devastating eye injuries including a ruptured eyeball, destroying the integrity of the eye itself with permanent loss of vision, traumatic brain injuries, and solid organ injury." He was not incapacitated and died of suicidal gunshot wound. Rubber bullets are one of the less-lethal (nonlethal) weapons, which are increasingly used to incapacitate dangerous individuals, avoiding use of firearms. Chowaniec C, Kobek M, Jabłoński C, Kabiesz-Neniczka S, Karczewska W. Forensic Sci Int. There was 1 death and 17 people in the series had permanent disabilities or deformities. Objective We conducted a systematic review of the available literature on deaths, injuries and permanent disability from rubber and plastic bullets, as well as from bean bag rounds, shot pellets and other projectiles used in arrests, protests and other contexts from 1 January 1990 until 1 June 2017. In a … “It can lead to a lot of injuries you don’t want.”. Suicide with a homemade shotgun: case report and review of literature. Data showed that 53 people died of their injuries, with penetrative injuries making up more than half of those cases and blunt trauma causing 23% of the deaths. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs), are bullets made of plastic, rubber, or other similar materials. But, in reality, they can do serious damage. It's been proven that rubber and plastic bullets are too dangerous for crowd control and have even been banned" in other parts of the world. “It is deeply concerning that these are being used. Injury pattern of the Flash-Ball, a less-lethal weapon used for law enforcement: report of two cases and review of the literature. Rubber bullets have killed folks and can cause permanent damage, brain damage, concussions etc." “There really is no role for rubber bullets in crowd control,” Dr. Haar says. From 1973 to 1981, just over 42,600 plastic bullets were fired in Northern Ireland. The notice was filed on behalf of Alyssa Schukar, who was hit in the left hand by a rubber bullet. The case raised a question as to how severe an injury is necessary to deter a person without causing death. The risk of serious injury and disability is high,” says Dr. Haar. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! HHS Lethal in Disguise: The Health Impacts of Crowd-Control Weapons, Bleeding around internal organs, like the liver, kidneys, spleen, and heart, Eye injuries, like vision loss due to rupture of the eye, bleeding in the eye, or detachment of the retina. Such bullets are dangerous, the petition says, adding, "They may cause bone fractures, injuries to internal organs, or even death. However, “rubber bullets basically fire out of the weapon pretty much as fast as a bullet,” explains crowd control weapons expert Rohini Haar, M.D., M.P.H., research fellow at the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley’s School of Law, PHR medical expert, and author of Lethal in Disguise: The Health Impacts of Crowd-Control Weapons. National Center for Biotechnology Information, Unable to load your collection due to an error, Unable to load your delegates due to an error. 2020 Sep;9(3):1-7. doi: 10.1007/s40123-020-00271-9. Pulmonary contusion in a collegiate diver: a case report. The case raised a question as to how severe an injury is necessary to deter a person without causing death. Today, law enforcement officials fire rubber bullets to enforce crowd control, with the idea that they will cause less bodily harm than a regular metal bullet. And sign up for our FREE newsletter here for daily health, nutrition, and fitness advice. 30 g in weight and consisted of a sponge foam nose with 40-mm diameter and a plastic body. The 2017 meta-analysis mentioned above examined data from 2,135 rubber bullets injuries and concluded that 71% were severe. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. This site needs JavaScript to work properly. He then claimed officers had removed or … The U.S. first started using rubber bullets during Vietnam War protests in the 1960s, according to the nonprofit organization Physicians for Human Rights. The most common injuries are to the skin and extremities, like bruises, cuts, and broken bones, Dr. Larrimore explains.  |  From her experience, patients described it as “extremely painful” and that it “feels like being hit by a baseball bat really hard.”, I just got hit by a rubber bullet near the bottom of my throat. Support from readers like you helps us do our best work. Rubber bullets are one of the less-lethal (nonlethal) weapons, which are increasingly used to incapacitate dangerous individuals, avoiding use of firearms. And what does getting hit by one really feel like? Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. A massive review study published in the journal BMJ Open in 2017 analyzed 1,984 rubber bullet injuries, Inverse reports. In particular, shocking photos of rubber bullet injuries have circulated all over Twitter, including large purple bruises, intense swelling, and open gashes covered in blood. According to a 2017 meta-analysis published in the journal BMJ Open, manufacturers create more than 75 different types in various countries—from Brazil to China to the United States. With that, law enforcement has taken extreme measures to control crowds, including the use of pepper spray, tear gas, physical force, and even rubber bullets. COVID-19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation. Many protests have drawn thousands in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. More than 15% of survivors were left with permanent disability, usually due to being shot in the head and neck. Pattern of rubber bullet injuries in the lower limbs: A report from Kashmir. [The specific mechanism of bruising inflicted by rubber bullets of traumatic weapons]. I just got hit by a rubber bullet near the bottom of my throat. Here’s how they have described it: Ashley Larrimore, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, says she has taken care of several patients over the past few days who were hit by rubber bullets. “They often don’t make the situation any better, and often increase tensions and make things much worse.”. Despite the name, rubber bullets typically have either a metal core with a rubber coating, or are a homogeneous admixture with rubber being a minority component. In theory, rubber bullets are supposed to cause less harm than a “regular” bullet. Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, California Doctor Says He's Been Offered Bribes For Vaccines as State's Rollout Flounders, Gunmen abduct 8 children from a Nigerian orphanage. By 2005, 125,000 baton rounds had … “Because they’re bigger and less dense, they are supposed to slow down a lot faster.”, She explains that rubber bullets are a hard plastic—“not like a Nerf gun.” And once the bullet is fired “it has a very unpredictable trajectory and won’t often go where you think it’s going to go.” That means if you’re shot at a close range “you’re getting shot as hard as a bullet comes out, in most cases,” Dr. Haar says. It becomes more important for a forensic pathologist to be familiar with rubber bullets and injuries caused by them as the use of less-lethal weapon increases. J Med Case Rep. 2011 Aug 10;5:362. doi: 10.1186/1752-1947-5-362. Researchers from the BMJ study came to this conclusion: Rubber bullets “do not appear to be an appropriate means of force in crowd-control settings.” Physicians for Human Rights also opposes their use. Leg Med (Tokyo). Suicidal shot in the mouth with rubber bullets. Would you like email updates of new search results? ... because they fly through the air so much slower than a bullet. Another teenage girl was reportedly shot in the face with a rubber bullet as she was walking home, leaving her face severely bloodied. A medical doctor explains what to do if you're struck by one. Linda Tirado, a freelance photographer and activist, suffered a rubber bullet injury Friday in Minneapolis, and was left permanently blinded in her left eye. Epub 2018 Mar 2. The most common injury to the eye from tear gas is chemical. Rubber bullets, a.k.a. Abigail Rodas, who was shot in the jaw with a rubber bullet on May 30, was one of the victims in Los Angeles, according to a lawsuit filed against the city and the police chief on … “Despite the widespread use of KIPs and the numerous types available, there is limited regulation of the development of these weapons and limited public information provided by manufacturers on their design and guidelines for use,” the authors write. Aim and scope We intend to study the functional and aesthetic impairments and the cost in terms of social health resulting from rubber-bullet facial trauma. 2016 Jun 1;19(3):129-33. doi: 10.1016/j.cjtee.2015.05.005. He was not incapacitated and died of suicidal gunshot wound. One patient suffered damage to their cornea from a taser fired at close range. The effects of being hit with a rubber bullet, can range from bruising to internal bleeding. Less-lethal rubber-bullet weapons are designed to induce blunt injuries that incapacitate violent individuals. The plastic bullet was first used in 1973 by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Ireland's police force, and by 1975 it had replaced the rubber bullet.  |  But, in reality, they can do serious damage. Sud Med Ekspert. USA.gov. NLM 2014 Jan-Feb;57(1):16-7. Case-study of fatal gunshot wounds from non-lethal projectiles. Doctors Explain How Rubber Bullets Can Actually Cause Life-Threatening Injuries. 14. Ifantides C, Deitz GA, Christopher KL, Slingsby TJ, Subramanian PS. 2010 Sep;31(3):255-7. doi: 10.1097/PAF.0b013e3181e12823. States reporting serious eye injuries: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas After George Floyd was killed, protests erupted throughout the entire country, calling for an end to police brutality and justice for Floyd and other Black Americans, like Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, who have met a similar fate at the hands of racial injustice.  |  Ophthalmol Ther. Guérant M, Vaz MA, Peoc'h M, Gaillard Y, Boyer B. Dhar SA, Dar TA, Wani SA, Maajid S, Bhat JA, Mir NA, Dar IH, Hussain S. Chin J Traumatol. A variety of rubber bullets have been used in the world, and they have occasionally produced severe or lethal injuries. Social media has been flooded with images from people experiencing the severity of these tactics firsthand. Projectile type: Rubber bullet or similar object (such as a bean bag round or pepper ball) and a tear gas canister. 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