Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Spectrum of injuries with “less-lethal” beanbag weapons: pictorial essay

  • Pictorial Essay
  • Published:
Emergency Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Beanbag weapons are gaining popularity with increasing daily use as a non-lethal or less-lethal alternative to traditional firearms. While these are considered “less-lethal,” these are associated with a spectrum of serious injuries. We present a pictorial essay of these injuries ranging from mild skin contusions to more severe solid organ injuries.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Kalebi A, Olumbe AK (2005) Death following rubber bullet wounds to the chest: case report. East Afr Med J 82(7):382–384

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Lavy T, Asleh S (2003) Ocular rubber bullet injuries. Eye (Lond) 17(7):821–824. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.eye.6700447

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Brito D, Challoner KR, Sehgal A, Mallon W (2001) The injury pattern of a new law enforcement weapon: the police bean bag. Ann Emerg Med 38(4):383–390. https://doi.org/10.1067/mem.2001.117272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Grange JT, Kozak R, Gonzalez J (2002) Penetrating injury from a less-lethal bean bag gun. J Trauma 52(3):576–578. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005373-200203000-00030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Charles A, Asensio J, Forno W, Petrone P, Roldan G, Scott RP (2002) Penetrating bean bag injury: intrathoracic complication of a nonlethal weapon. J Trauma 53(5):997–1000. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005373-200211000-00032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Miller CR et al (2016) Comparative evaluation of potentially radiolucent projectile components by radiographs and computed tomography. J Forensic Sci 61(6):1563–1570

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Guenther TM, Gustafson JD, Wozniak CJ, Zakaluzny SA (2020) Utter GH (2020) Penetrating thoracic injury from a bean bag round complicated by development of post-operative empyema. J Surg Case Rep 4:rjaa078. https://doi.org/10.1093/jscr/rjaa078

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ficke J (2012) Mechanisms of soft-tissue injury. In: Volgas D, Harder Y (ed) Manual of Soft-Tissue Management in Orthopaedic Trauma, 1st edn. Thieme Medical Publishers, pp 29–39

  9. Maiden N (2009) Ballistics reviews: mechanisms of bullet wound trauma. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 5(3):204–209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-009-9096-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Stefanopoulos PK, Pinialidis DE, Hadjigeorgiou GF, Filippakis KN (2017) Wound ballistics 101: the mechanisms of soft tissue wounding by bullets. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg 43(5):579–586. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00068-015-0581-1

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Simon L, Lopez R, King K (2022) Blunt force trauma. Statpearls Publishing, Treasure Island (FL). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470338/?report=reader. Accessed 12 Sep 2022

  12. Newman R, Mahdy H (2022) Laceration. StatPearls Publishing, Treasure Island (FL). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK545166/#!po=92.8571. Accessed 12 Sep 2022

  13. Olson KA, Haselden LE, Zaunbrecher RD et al (2020) Penetrating injuries from “less lethal” beanbag munitions. N Engl J Med 383(11):1081–1083. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2025923

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Wehrmann D, Antisdel J, Walen S, Brunworth J (2017) Penetrating ocular trauma from a bean bag gun: a case report and review of less-lethal force and their consequences. Mo Med 114(4):308–310

    Google Scholar 

  15. Steenburg SD, Padilla-Jones B, Lee JT et al (2021) Traumatic abdominal wall injuries-a primer for radiologists. Emerg Radiol 28(2):361–371. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-020-01842-w

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Baum GR, Baum JT, Hayward D, MacKay BJ (2022) Gunshot wounds: ballistics, pathology, and treatment recommendations, with a focus on retained bullets. Orthop Res Rev 5(14):293–317. https://doi.org/10.2147/ORR.S378278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Dhar SA, Dar TA, Wani SA, Maajid S, Bhat JA, Mir NA, Dar IH, Hussain S (2016) Pattern of rubber bullet injuries in the lower limbs: a report from Kashmir. Chin J Traumatol 19(3):129–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjtee.2015.05.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Naeem BK, Perveen S, Naeem N et al (2018) Visceral injuries in patients with blunt and penetrating abdominal trauma presenting to a tertiary care facility in Karachi. Pakistan Cureus 10(11):e3604. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.3604

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Patel A, Toohey S, Boysen-Osborn M (2014) Splenic laceration and pulmonary contusion injury from bean bag weapon. West J Emerg Med 15(2):118–119. https://doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2013.10.19900

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Sodagari F, Katz DS, Menias CO et al (2020) Imaging evaluation of abdominopelvic gunshot trauma. Radiographics: a review publication of the Radiological Society of North America, Inc 40(6):1766–1788

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Damon Salar Motamedi, Zachary Todd Fitzgerald & Raza Mushtaq

  2. Department of Radiology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Berndt Schmit

Authors
  1. Damon Salar Motamedi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zachary Todd Fitzgerald
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Berndt Schmit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Raza Mushtaq
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raza Mushtaq.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Motamedi, D.S., Fitzgerald, Z.T., Schmit, B. et al. Spectrum of injuries with “less-lethal” beanbag weapons: pictorial essay. Emerg Radiol 30, 119–126 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-022-02104-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-022-02104-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation