Death following rubber bullet wounds to the chest: case report.

Abstract

The rubber bullet has been portrayed as a non-lethal weapon and has gained preference in riot-control over live ammunition. Despite the fact that it was designed to be safer than live ammunition, several cases of fatalities have been reported from its use. Most of these fatalities were because of abuse of the weapon in terms of range of fire and anatomical area of the body targeted. This is a case report of such a fatality following shotgun rubber bullet injury, including the circumstance surrounding this unusual occurrence, the autopsy findings and reports of the ballistic analysis. Four projectiles penetrated the right chest lodging in the right lung and injuring the right pulmonary artery, causing death. The mechanism of death in this case is rapid massive pulmonary haemorrhage.