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Post-mortem imaging in traffic fatalities: from autopsy to reconstruction of the scene using freely available software

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Abstract

CT scan coupled with autopsy is the gold standard for the forensic investigation of fatal road traffic accidents. The objective of the present paper is to demonstrate that from this, it is possible to reconstruct elements of an accident with minimal human and material resources using basic knowledge of three-dimensional imaging software. This is illustrated by a case implicating a pedestrian and a motor vehicle in which the impact areas were matched using freely available computer-aided design software. Such an approach aims to improve the visualisation of forensic elements, which is crucial for the understanding of all parties involved in the legal implications of such accidents and which could become the standard practice in many institutes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr Philip Robinson for his help in manuscript preparation and Mr Christian Rouquand, accidentology expert, for the motorcycle data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service de Médecine Légale, Pôle Médico-Judiciaire, CHU Pellegrin, 33076, Bordeaux, France

    Larbi Benali & Sophie Gromb

  2. UFR d’odontologie, Département 56–03 Odontologie Légale, Université Bordeaux II Victor-Segalen, 16-20, cours de la Marne, 33082, Bordeaux, France

    Christophe Bou

  3. UMR 5199, PACEA (CNRS), A3P Laboratoire d’anthropologie des populations passées et présentes, Université Bordeaux I, avenue des Facultés, 33405, Talence, Bordeaux, France

    Christophe Bou

Authors
  1. Larbi Benali
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  2. Sophie Gromb
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Larbi Benali.

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Fig. 1

Abdomen: post-mortem CT and autopsy. Visual inspection at autopsy (a) found an area of striae-like skin ruptures. Osseous segmentation (b) revealed a sacroiliac fracture (white arrows) and pubic diastasis (double white arrow) evocative of rotational force. After dissection of the pelvic region (c), the pubic diastasis was visualised (double white arrow); note the major necrotico-haemorrhagic remodelling tissue (JPEG 97 kb)

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Fig. 1b

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Fig. 1c

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Fig. 2

Reconstitution. A three-dimensional mesh representation of the motorcycle implicated in the accident was created from the motorcycle technical data (JPEG 86 kb)

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Benali, L., Gromb, S. & Bou, C. Post-mortem imaging in traffic fatalities: from autopsy to reconstruction of the scene using freely available software. Int J Legal Med 127, 1045–1049 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-012-0789-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-012-0789-0

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