Vehicle Crash Forensics: Car Accident Information for Writers

_________________________________________________________

. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My daughter and I were driving through a toll when the driver ahead of us hit the column, backed up, and swerved on down the road.

My daughter is a type 1 diabetic, and my mind went instantly to the idea that the other driver wasn't perceiving properly; they were having a medical emergency. This happens for diabetics when their cognition and eyesight is suddenly impaired, and they cannot think their way out of the situation.

This could be a plotting device where a very innocent person could be having a very bad medical day and do some very heinous things that would not only twist a plot but leave the heroine psychologically damaged. A new medication, a recent stomach bug that dropped her blood sugar levels, so many ways to get a driver into trouble - maybe all of those sleepless nights that you've written into her plot line are coming back to haunt your heroine. Exhaustion has a similar effect on driving ability as alcohol.

The good news is that traffic fatalities are statistically down because of:

* Redesigned cars
* Seat belt and child seat use
* Decrease in driving under the influence
* Legislation such as increased driving ages and incremental drivers licenses

Common Causes of traffic accidents include:

. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* Right of way mistakes
* Failure to yield
* Excessive speed
* Following too close
* Disregarding traffic signals
* Driving styles
   - texting
   - talking on the phone
   - eating
   - doing makeup



Equipment failure is NOT a significant cause of car accidents. So if you want to call attention to a murder or attempted murder cut the brake lines or otherwise manipulate the equipment because this would be a heads up to forensic investigators that something is off.

Kinds of accidents that cause fatalities include:

* almost half are collisions between moving vehicles
* another 25% fixed objects such as walls or trees
* 10% pedestrians
* 10% non-collisions like going over cliffs
* 2% bikes
* 1% trains

ON THE SCENE

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Is the accident scene safe for medical intervention?
a. Are there people with guns shooting? EMT cannot go
    in until the scene of the accident is secured.
b. Are there any chemical hazards? Perhaps from a
   delivery truck? If so, a hazard team (hazmat) must be
   called in.
c. Several teams usually work together (the fire, police,
    and EMTs) to save the occupants.
    BLOG LINK - EMT

2. A road block is established to maintain the integrity
   of the scene. Then an investigator will become
   involved to help determine what exactly happened to
   cause the accident.

Investigators should:
* Make sure they are visible and not creating further victims by getting themselves in trouble.

Accidents have reasons and rules

* They leave a trail of forensic evidence.
* 90% includes human error
* 50% include a problem like highway design
Video Quick Study (9:41) Shows an accident investigator talking about how they use crash forensics.

Investigators will use:

* Length of skid marks
* Crush depth
* Positions where vehicles come to rest after the accident
* Direction the vehicle had been traveling
* Point of impact (if it can be determined)
* Were the lights and turn signals used properly (they check the filaments in the light bulbs for this
   information)
* Some cars are equipped with black boxes which stores car use information.

Video Study (22:15) For your inner geek: Understanding car crashes Basic Physics
Video Study (23:51) More inner geek: Physics Meets Biology

As a writer you'll want to decide:
* Speed of heroine's car.
* Car that your heroine is driving (model year makes a big difference)
* What she hits
* If another car, what type and how fast.

And then do a little research on what the outcome would generally look like.

Video Quick Study (2:33) Size and weight matters in survivability.

The investigator creates a map of the scene

* Includes accurate measurements

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* The location of any crash debris

The investigator will also:

* Look for paint transfer evidence
* Attempt to determine the road worthiness of the
   car both prior to the accident and after.
* What was the time of day?
* What were the light and weather conditions?
* What were the physical and mental conditions of
   the drivers involved?
* Levels of sobriety?

Video Quick Link Simulator of how it feels to drive drunk
Video Quick Study (5:17) Following a drunk driver and confronting her for her driving

They look for clues of distraction:

* How high was the radio volume setting?
* Are there open containers of food?
* Does a woman have her makeup kit out and opened?
* Is there alcohol or drug evidence?
* Are there headphones?
* They will check the driver's cell phones for texting or calls.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Forensic Engineers - analyse the data collected by the investigators to apply the laws of physics such as Newton's Laws to determine such information as speed at the time of impact. Forensic Engineers are typically called in after the fact. They will use:
* Reports written by responding investigators/police
* Photographs
* The vehicles or what's left of them
* Statements by eye witnesses
   Blog Link - Eye Witness Reliability

Video Quick Study (8:36) high tech 3D engineer model created for court evidence

Vehicles often look different when being analyzed than they did at the scene of the accident because:
* They often need to be altered to remove the people who were involved in the crash.
* Towing
Video Quick Study (5:55) Accident clean up after accident and how the remove the cars.

The investigators also try to determine who was sitting where

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* Legitimately, the passengers could have been ejected
   from the car or thrown around inside of the car making
   it difficult to tell who was driving.
* But what if your bad guy was in a wreck, and the
   passenger died? He might try to switch seats with the
   dead guy to implicate the deceased and keep himself
   out of trouble. What if they weren't dead but
   unconscious and the bad guy wants to blame the
   wreck on an innocent passenger? Then it's his word
   against your heroines.

A responding investigator would look for evidence of this such as:
* Blood stains (can by typed as A, AB etc)
* Hair transfer
* Injury profiles

Thank you for stopping by. I wish all of my readers safety. To that end, I'm including a safety tutorial to help you and your heroine in case there is an accident either fictional or real-life. Video Quick Study (9:46)

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Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

 

Forensic Toxicology - Drugs and Poisons 101: Information for Writers

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Excerpt WEAKEST LYNX

       I undressed in the bathroom. When I lifted the hamper lid, my peripheral vision caught a dark face reflected in the mirror. I gasped, my brain processing like a camera with an open shutter. Click. Tribal tattoos. Click. Gas mask. Click. Sink on right. Click. White cloth. Click. Sweet odor. Click. No alarm. Click. No help.

       While my mind snapped perceptions, my body acted from training. I lowered my hips to drop my weight for better balance and leverage. My left leg swung behind his. I bent my knee in a swift, sharp move as I reached over my head, grasping his shirt to put him on the floor.

        But the initial fumes I had sucked in made the room watery and undulating, melting my muscles and my instincts into useless puddles. My arms dropped ineffectually to my sides. One of his hands trapped me against him as I dangled, unable to hold my weight up with my legs, while his other hand smashed the cloth tightly over my nose. 

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Forensic Toxicologists study how animals are affected by drugs and poisons. They work for various independent companies as well as agencies.

Inside a forensic department there are typically two chemistry labs housed in different locations because of the potential for cross-contamination. There are:
1 Contraband Substances Labs
* Identifies substances in seized form
* Typically measured in gram and kilograms
2 Toxicology Lab
* Identifies substances that are found in urine, blood, and tissues
* Typically measured in micro-gram and nano-grams
What is a Forensic Toxicologist (1:50)

Some Useful Vocabulary:
A drug - single chemical or compound chemical that has psychological and or physical reactions on the

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

   body.
* Prescription
* Over the counter
* Recreational
   legal - such as alcohol
   illegal - such as heroine
* Natural - such as caffeine

A poison has life threatening 
                effects.
Toxicology - The study of how humans and animals are
                affected by poisons or drugs
Forensic Toxicology - how the affect of drugs and
                 poisons have legal ramifications
Synergism - Forensic Toxicologist must be mindful
                  of Synergism - When two or more drugs or
                  substances work together to increase the effect such as
                  alcohol and barbiturates. Jimmy Hendricks, Janice
                  Joplin are two examples.
Pharmacologyy - the science of understanding the way drugs act
                  and the affects they have on a body
Pharmoketetics study of how drugs move - including how they get
                  into and out of the body
Absorption - how a drug gets into a body 
                        VIDEO QUICK STUDY Absorption and Dose (7:49)

 1. The drug can be inserted intravenously - shot directly into a
      vein/ the blood system. They can also be shot into a muscle 
      where they will enter the blood in a gradual manner.
 2. Orally - entering the body through the digestive tract
 3. Rectal insertion - crossing the mucus lining into the gastro-
     intenstinal tract
 4. Inhaled - such as for asthmatics or with a nebulizer or gas like
     carbon monoxide poisoning.
 5. Deramal - lotions and other products that are applied to the skin,
     but will not typically show up in significant quantities in the
     blood stream.
 6. Ocular

Distribution - almost always the product is distributed to the rest
     of the body through the blood/circulatory system. These do not
     circulate in an even way.
 1. The heart and liver - often have a higher concentration
 2. The brain - many drugs cannot get into the brain because blood
     networks in the brain are less permeable than other parts of the 
     body.
 3. Some products simply build up in the system. Pesticides, for
     example, build up in fatty tissues (adipose) over time. 
     Example of this is mercury in fish.

Metabolism - (broken down into metabolites) usually happens in
      the liver.
 1. Drug is deactivated with time.
 2. Body eliminates the drug
 3. Converts it into a substance that can be used for energy

Elimination - 
  1. Most is removed through urine (that's why urine testing is so 
      important)
  2. Feces
  3. Sweat
  4. Lactation
  5. Hair follicles. 
      VIDEO QUICK STUDY of hair toxicology (1:10)
  6. Exhalent VIDEO QUICK STUDY - A breathalyzer to analyze
       alcohol consumption (:50)

Poisonings can occur by:

Accident

•   Child poisoning
•   Storing improperly, putting a poison in an incorrect 
•   Container/mislabeling
•   Taking the wrong medication
•   Taking one's medication multiple times during the day (do     to dementia, etc.)

  Adverse drug interactions

•  An individual might have specific issues such as organ    damage that is exacerbated over time by taking certain     medications.
•  Environmental causes such as radon or industrial chemicals
•  Animals such as spiders or snakes
•  Plants

  Overdose on recreational drugs VIDEO QUICK STUDY of street drugs and their forensic effects (9:52)

Suicide only fatal about 2% of the time but often results in organ 
             damage.
Homicide 

An arrangement of psychoactive drugs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a living person signs of poisoning might include:

• nausea and vomiting
• respiratory distress
• change in skin coloration
• seizures
• blurred vision
• slurred speech
• mental confusion
• swelling
• Loss of consciousness

The severity of the reaction depends on many factors including:

•  Size of the victim
•  Health of the victim
•  Amount of substance
•  Duration of exposure

When deciding if this was a suicide or homicide investigators may utilize a forensic psychologist or death investigator to interview family, friends, and coworkers to put together a picture of their health  history, their state of mental health, and their history of drug use both legal and illegal.

Tests can be performed on the living or the dead.
Subjects who are living might be tested for some of these reasons:

•  Pre-employment drug tests
•  Randomized drug testing for public safety
•  Athletes
•  Crime scene - was a suspect under the influence?
•  Victim of a crime - for example was a date rape drug used?

   Blog - How to Drug Your Victim - the Four Main Date Rape Drugs

Post-mortem Forensic Drug Tests are done by Forensic Toxicologist and/or Forensic Pathologist - medical doctors specializing in disease and chemistry.

In trying to determine the poison/toxin there are three main steps:

Sample - Postmortem Sampling List will probably look at:

•       blood
•       urine
•       stomach contents
•       bile and liver (site of metabolism for many drugs)
•       brain tissue/spinal fluid
•       vitreous fluid (from the eye) Even in a body that has                  already started to breakdown, this is often a place where             toxicologists can gather information because the eye is               more resistant than other tissues to decomposition.

(Photo credit: Jack Spades)

•       fatty deposits
•       hair - this is the longest lasting           source of a decomposed body.

Screen -
      * indicates a drug might be present
      * some drugs mimic naturally 
         occurring substance
      * Gas Chromotography VIDEO QUICK STUDY (1:12)
      * Enzyme Multiplied Immunoassay Testing
         VIDEO QUICK STUDY (2:06)
Extract -
     * concentrates the drug so it's easier to detect
     * removes other substances that might contaminate the results
     * Mass Spectometry VIDEO QUICK STUDY (7:59)
       qualitative and quantitative information is gathered

Please let me know if you have any questions, and I will do my best to help.

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Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

Investigation, Interview, & Interrogation: Information for Writers

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EXCERPT FROM CHAIN LYNX

    “T-bone don’t matter none. He in for assault. He a gang banger. No one believe nothing he’d say. He want to tell? Go ahead. He just trying to trade me in for a free walk, man.” Hector rested his eyes on his knees.
     “You told T-bone your story.”
     Hector looked up at Axel and back down with a scornful huff.
     “And now T-bone is dead,” Axel said.

     Hector all but threw his body out of his chair. He moved back in the tiny interrogation room, away from Axel, to stand in the corner. He was cornered.
     “What you mean T-bone dead?”
     Axel said nothing.
     "He was alive this morning when I got moved.”
     Axel gave a slight nod.
     Hector stalked back to his chair, sat down, and leaned
forward, tightly wound, focused. “T-bone dead?”
     “This is bigger than you could ever imagine.” Axel’s voice was quiet. Eerily free of emotion. “You are smaller than you could ever imagine. You, Hector, are a bug under someone’s shoe, and you are about to get squashed. I want to know why.”

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While intelligence gathering happens prior to a crime, an investigation happens as a reaction to a crime.
It is important for a writer to understand the different roles that are played by investigative professionals.
A forensic scientist processes evidence. Unlike what we see on TV, forensic scientists usually DO NOT conduct interviews or interrogations. Typically interviews and interrogation are considered police science rather than forensic science.

An interview is conducted with a witness and an interrogation is conducted with a suspect.

*Police interviews happen anywhere - on the street or in the station.
*It is important to note that people can reply or not.
*In an interrogation, suspects have the right to protect themselves from self-incrimination.
*Witnesses have the choice whether to cooperate or not.
*Even though witnesses can refuse to talk, they can be compelled to disclose their information in front of a
  grand jury and other court hearings. If an investigator is talking to someone who is refusing information, they
  can be threatened with a subpoena.

As a writer, you'll want to consider:

*Does the investigator have jurisdiction?
  Lee Loftland's blog about which agencies conduct which kinds of investigations
*What if several agencies can claim jurisdiction? Typically the location with the most significant crime
  and the best case will take the lead. This can cause problems and might help with your plot twists.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Investigations begin once it has been determined that a crime has taken place by one of the following:

*Police
*Prosecuters Office
*Grand Jury

Investigations can be broken down into three types:

1. Administrative - These are fact finding inquiries within an agency or business
*Professional Misconduct
*Safety Violations
*Employee background checks

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

*Harassment
*Discrimination
Video Quick Study - Investigators' Reports (4:21 Industry Investigator)

2. Criminal Investigation - conducted by an agency

3. Private Investigation - Professionals hired from
    outside of agencies to counter what the agencies
    produce for evidence

Once an agency decides that a criminal act has taken place two things must occur:

1 - Find the suspect
2 - Connect the suspect to the victim and the crime. This includes forensics, interrogation, and interviews

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Study Links to Related Blog Posts :
Fingerprints
Footwear
Blood Spatter
CSI Light


To reach the goal of arrest and conviction, investigators use:
* Search Warrants
* Arrest Warrants
* Forensic science applications
* Interviews
    Study Link: How a Police Sketch Artist Works
* Interrogations
   Study Link: Body Language of Liars
 
An interviewer will ask the same questions that your readers want to unravel as they read your story. Just remember Kiplings "Six Honest Men." Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?

Some things for a writer to consider about their witness:

* What was the motive for coming forward?

At the Writers' Police Academy. I confess!

* What was their vantage point?
* What is their emotional state?
* What was their physical state?
* Were they injured? In shock?
* Were they under the influence of drugs or
   alcohol?
* Are they very old, or known to have impaired
   memory?
* Are they very young?
   Video of a child being interrogated. (8:00)
* Does the witness have limited intelligence.
* How long ago did the crime happen?
* Are the witnesses afraid to offer their
   information? - Perhaps your witness is afraid of
   the police
   because of something that has happened in the past. (Blog link showing this concept in action),
   or they are afraid of what might happen to themselves or their family and property if they step-forward
   with information.
   As a writer, if you have a character who is a reluctant witness, you might choose for them to use
   an anonymous tip line to get the information to the investigators.
* Perhaps your witness just doesn't want to get involved - they think that it would take time away from work
   or they would have to go to trial etc.

The investigator will use standardized forms to document the information. These may include:

* Witness Investigation Reports
* Missing, Damaged, or Stolen Property Reports

The Interview and/or Interrogation

Psychological studies have been conducted to try to get the optimal amount of information from a witness. To this end police might choose different locations for their interview. The police may walk the witness through the crime scene. They might conduct the interview at the home. Or possibly bring them in for formal interviewing at the police station.

Video Quick Study
First Jodi Arias Interrogation go to mark 3:00 to see her commenting on the temperature and watch the friendly, helpful tone of the investigator.
Training an Investigator (21:06) Talks about all of the things that impact and develop in an interview or interrogation (this focuses on child interviews) very interesting what technology has been developed for training purposes and beyond.

A writer must decide how this is documented either on camera or just voice recorded. Typically the investigator will put the recording device on the table in front of the witness. Being voice recorded is by consent-only in most states. A video tape, however, does not need to be disclosed if it is visual only. Often it is NOT disclosed that video is being taken because this has proven to impede the interview. Perhaps you want the witness to have this added intimidation factor? Perhaps you choose not to include video and something important is missed and the suspect is set free?

Sometimes a witness interview changes into an interrogation. If this happens, the subject will need to be apprised of their rights to not implicate themselves in a crime. Custodial Interrogations - the suspect is arrested then interrogated this is done AFTER their Miranda Rights are read to them.

*Typically only one person conducts the interview or interrogation.
*Forensic scientists DO NOT conduct interviews or interrogations.
*Investigators are trained to use a soft, normal tone and have a friendly demeanor.
*Typically at the beginning of an interrogation, time is spent just getting to know the person, figuring out the
  subject's capacity intellectually, and psychologically - how competent are they?

VIDEO QUICK STUDY
Effective Interrogation Prt 1 (14:53) Includes body language
Effective Interrogation Prt 2 (14:52) Minimization technique,
                                           (9:00 mark) aggressive techniques that do not work, denial interruption
Effective Interrogation Prt 3 (13:02) move to 3:00 mark.

See how this article influenced my plot lines in my novella MINE and my novel CHAOS IS COME AGAIN.

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Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

Police Sketch Artists - Drawing on Witness Recall

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There on the TV screen, I saw the rendering of my attacker. The life-like drawing stunned me. With eyes fixed on the picture, my heart staggered drunkenly around my rib cage and panic twisted my lungs. Stalker leered down at me, a big man of mixed racial background with almond-shaped eyes and a flat nose over a wide full mouth. Two scars disfigured the left side of his face -- one ran from his nose to the corner of his lip, and another ran from his eye to his chin. On the right side, he adorned himself with a tribal tattoo that showed black against his light brown skin.

 - WEAKEST LYNX

Your heroine survived the attack. She's sitting in the police station, drinking the swamp water they call coffee from a Styrofoam cup. A police artist takes your heroine down a long, echoing hallway to a quiet office. What will your heroine encounter?

The Police Artist's job is to make a rendering called a COMPOSITE SKETCH to be used to apprehend and possibly help convict the criminal.

  

* Ideally, the artist has a combined background in police work/criminology, art, and psychology.

* The room will probably have a comfortable chair for the witness. It will be void of face images - no art, or
   wanted posters or any other image that might subconsciously impede a good witness report.
* The artist will sit off to the side so the artist's own face doesn't get confused with the memory.
* The artist usually starts with open ended questions while making the initial rendering, "Tell me about the
    shape of his jaw line?" Then the artist shows the sketch to the witness. At that point, specific questions are
    asked. "Are his eyes the right distance apart?"
* At the end of the interview the artist signs and dates their work – in case the composite sketch ends up in
   court as evidence.
* The process will last 1-2 hours

VIDEO QUICK STUDY (7:24) - An artist at work and his interview techniques

One of the first questions that the artist will ask is about race. The reason for this is not to determine the skin color but the underlying bone structures (skull shape and facial geometry). There are three main bone structure families
*Caucasoid
* Negroid
* Mongoloid
(There is also Aboriginal, which does not anthropologically fit into these three categories)

Next they will be asked about the age. The differences in bone structure shifts are most apparent in children, however, in adults the shift comes mainly in skin texture, tone, and thickness.
VIDEO QUICK STUDY (1:28) showing an age progression rendering and discussion of what factors are considered.

And then they will ask about body build.

An author will have to decide whether the witness is a good witness or not. 

The artists need to have good interviewing skills including an understanding of memory and how trauma effects it (more about this in next week’s blog). The goal is a quality representation of the suspect with an emphasis on forensics.  LINK to blog article about witnessing in F.A.T. Simulation 
* Does your witness have good eye sight?
* Are they dexterous at visual processing? Do they have a "memory for faces?"
* Is your witness someone who is detail oriented and paying attention?
* Memories can be distorted by stress
* Cross-racial features can be confusing
* Consider the lighting conditions
* Consider how fleeting the view
* Consider the angle of view

As the author, you will need to decide what techniques your artist will use

1) Interview with Hand Rendering

    From my art classes I learned that:

   * faces are generally not symmetrical

   * the face is generally 5x the width of an eye

   *The width between the eyes is generally the width of one eye

   *The eyes are about half-way down the face

   * the ears and nose are roughly the same height

    It is the artist's job to find where the suspect's facial geometry shifts from the Greek/Classical ideal.

   

    VIDEO QUICK STUDY  (1:10) an artist using a ruler to portion properly while rendering a time lapse

    drawing of a suspect. 

2) Catalog  

Scientists using scanners have found that we spend less time looking at the lower face. Our focus stays on the upper face. And surprisingly, (to me, anyway) less focus on the eyes than the rest of the upper face. The forehead, the hairline, and hair have priority in our memories. So if your character wants to disguise themselves, they should pay more attention to wearing hats and wigs. 

People recognize things more easily than they can recall them. For this reason, science indicates that the benefit of offering photos outweighs the bias that they could produce. So artists have binders that divide the different zones of the face into options from which the witness can choose. FBI facial ID catalog. Also photo albums of tattoos, scars, hats, clothing, and glasses are helpful for witnesses to use in  identification.

VIDEO QUICK STUDY 1 (2:16) Police artist discussing his use of the catalog

VIDEO QUICK STUDY 2 (2:13) Police artist discusses her use of catalog and her interview technique

3) Computer generated

    The pros include:

    * Faster and allow the artists to swap out one feature for another with ease.

    * Less expensive to produce images this way.

    * Easier to e-mail and easier to store

    Examples of this software include:
    * Identi-kit Link to their website
    * Faces Link to their website

    VIDEO QUICK STUDY (4:49) Using FACES computer composite rendering

One of America's foremost police artists is Karen Taylor  Link to information about Karen Taylor

VIDEO QUICK STUDY (2:48) Karen Taylor helping to solve the identity of "Brush Girl." 

·     LINK to AMAZON: FORENSIC ART AND ILLUSTRATION BY KAREN TAYLOR 

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Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.