Citation

Smock WS, Nichols GR, Fuller PM, Weakley-Jones B. Am. J. Forensic Med. Pathol. 1989; 10(2): 105-114.

Affiliation

Department of Anatomy, University of Louisville School of Medicine, KY 40292.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2741865

Abstract

Five cases of vehicular homicide are presented in which the determination of an occupant's role in a motor vehicle collision was an important medicolegal question. The identification of the occupant's role in a motor vehicle collision can be determined by the forensic pathologist. The investigation that coordinates an examination of injury mechanisms, occupant kinematics, vehicle dynamics, and trace evidence will facilitate such a determination. This determination protects the innocent passenger, when faced with criminal or civil charges, from being falsely prosecuted as the driver. The examination of the above-mentioned components in a multi-occupant collision takes on particular forensic importance when a surviving driver claims to be a passenger: the victim rather than the assailant.

Language: en