SPECIFIC TRAUMATIC INJURIES ESTABLISHED ON THE BODY OF A MOTORCYCLIST ASSOCIATED WITH A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT

Abstract

Introduction: Traffic accidents are a common cause of traumatic injuries today and are the cause of a great number of deaths. The information, gathered from the site of the accident, the forensic autopsy and the toxicological analysis of blood and urine samples taken from the deceased, reveals the sequence of events leading to the incident, the type of vehicle involved in the crash, the place of the occupants of the vehicle, the cause of the death and the mechanism of occurring of the injuries. Materials and methods: forensic autopsy of the body; chemical analyses of blood and urine. Case presentation: We present a case of a 30-year-old male motorcyclist who died in a traffic accident, as he was hit and run over by a cargo truck. The body of the deceased was examined in the Department of Forensic medicine and deontology, Sofia. Multiple traumatic injuries were identified, with specific findings on the chest and the abdomen – excoriations with specific shape corresponding to a specific detail (an identification number) of the tire of the motor vehicle. Discussion: Traumatic injuries on the chest and abdomen were due to contact with a motor vehicle tire element, expressed as a positive-negative imprint. This statement is firmly proven based on the specific injury located on the thorax and abdomen with visualization of the serial number of the tire. Conclusion: Every detail, traumatic injuries and their comparison are essential for the correct interpretation of a traffic accident to recreate the events that led to the incident and its outcomes, i.e. building a situational image of a traffic accident.