Traffic Accident Resulting in a Passenger Degloving Injury

[hermantheshocker]

Three soldiers were in a military motor vehicle carrying out a reconnaissance mission. Suddenly, the driver saw a fixed obstacle in the middle of the road and he swerved to avoid it. Unexpectedly, the vehicle rolled over several times after hitting a bump. The soldier sitting on the front passenger seat was thrown out while the vehicle was overturning and he died several minutes later.

A degloving injury is likely to cause minimal to extensive loss of skin with variable amounts of deep tissues loss through a defence mechanism or trauma. This injury usually occurs in vehicle-pedestrian accident victims who are run over, and less commonly one in a vehicle’s passenger.


Complete and clear skin detachment found in the left sock.

At the autopsy a complete detachment of the skin of left leg and foot was observed, showing the typical features of degloving injuries. According to our reconstruction, three different forces were applied simultaneously to the body, resulting in a severe degloving injury to the leg and the foot.

A simple fracture of the ankle joint was also observed. A plastic bag accompanied the body. In the bag a grey sock was present, inside which the avulsed skin of the left leg was present. On the detached skin, a laceration of the fourth toe and several areas of bruising were present. Injuries showed no significant vital reactions, indicating that the victim was already dead when the degloving injury occurred. No other lacerations or abrasions of the skin were observed. According to the investigations, the victim wore the left boot after the accident. When the rescuers tried to remove the boot, sock and skin were removed with it. The circumferential line of skin transection corresponded to the margin of the boot and showed a mild rim of abrasion and bruising.


Degloving injury of the left leg and foot.

On the left leg and foot, there was a detachment of the skin and underlying soft tissues.


Circumferential line of skin transection showing linear-shaped laceration and rim of mild abrasion and bruise.

The appearance and the features of the lesion were compatible with a degloving injury. The lesion started on the lower third of the left leg, 14 cm from the calcaneus, where a clear concentric linear-shaped edge of laceration was observed


Underlying muscles and bones after skin detachment.

The lesion affected the skin and subcutaneous tissues of the lower leg and the foot, exposing the underlying muscles and bones.


Biomechanical theory of the observed degloving injury. The two squares that represent the closing door that caught the foot, and three forces (tangential – A, perpendicular – B, and torsion – C) are shown.

We assume that, the left leg was caught inside the cockpit due to a perpendicular force while the body of the victim was exiting the vehicle due to a centrifugal force. This resulted in a stretching of the skin at the point of compression between the two surfaces. Finally, the torsion of the skin due to the rolling movement of the vehicle resulted in additional damage that caused the final detachment of the skin.
A graphic representation of our theory is shown above.

In this case, a complete detachment of the skin of the left leg and foot was observed. Similar cases of degloving injuries are described in literature, but a complete skin detachment was not observed. We assume a peculiar biomechanics of degloving injury development due to the simultaneous action of three different forces. A possible explanation is that the body was ejected with considerable force while the vehicle was rolling over, and the leg was compressed between two surfaces. In conclusion, we tried to reconstruct the accident from the injuries after careful observation of human remains. Our theory was plausible but should not be accepted as definite without further studies.
-Lorenzo Gitto, Aniello Maiese, Giorgio Bolino - Romanian Society of Legal Medicine

[Flapmon]

now someone can wear his feet as shoes but God damn that's brutal.

[GoreGirl89]

That muscle looks dead as fuck. I wonder if they had to end up amputating his foot?

[*Ragdoll_Cutie*]

Originally Posted by GoreGirl89

That muscle looks dead as fuck. I wonder if they had to end up amputating his foot?

I think he's dead hun x

[GoreGirl89]

Originally Posted by *Ragdoll_Cutie*

I think he's dead hun x

Alas, forgot I was in the death section.

[hermantheshocker]

Originally Posted by GoreGirl89

Alas, forgot I was in the death section.

Yeah he died ;)

[*Ragdoll_Cutie*]

Originally Posted by GoreGirl89

Alas, forgot I was in the death section.

it's a mistake I'd make so dont worry x

[rohmell]

I like posts like this that provide detailed, scientific info and explanations about the incident and victim.

[bloodshin]

Ed Gein's socks

[sarahowen662]

Quick scroll to the pic then back up to the description - meh, its a degloved thumb, nothing new here.......then back to the pic
BAM! Sudden realisation its a foot.
Anyone else curls their toes up??