NCJ Number
19517
Date Published
1975
Length
24 pages
Annotation
THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE AREAS OF POTENTIAL DAMAGE HAZARD AS A FUNCTION OF RANGE, VELOCITY, AND AVAILABLE ENERGY FROM IMPACTS BY THE WATER BALL, A PROPOSED RIOT CONTROL DEVICE.
Abstract
THE INITIAL PHASE OF TESTING ESTABLISHED AN AVERAGE VELOCITY DECAY CURVE, WHEREAS THE MAJOR PORTION OF THE TESTS INVOLVED SHOOTING HUMAN HEAD MODELS AND LIVE EXPERIMENTAL ANIMALS WITH WATER BALLS OVER A WIDE RANGE OF IMPACT VELOCITIES. LEVELS WERE DETERMINED AT WHICH DAMAGE TO THE TARGET WOULD OCCUR AND WHERE IT WOULD CEASE. THESE LEVELS WERE THEN APPLIED TO THE VELOCITY DECAY CURVE TO DETERMINE THE ZONES OF RANGE-RELATED HAZARD FOR EACH OF THE TARGETS. THREE POSSIBLE ZONES WERE CONSIDERED: ZONE I, AN AREA OF EXTREME HAZARD WHERE DAMAGE OCCURRED CONSISTENTLY; ZONE II, AN AREA OF MIXED RESULTS WHERE DAMAGE OCCURRED RANDOMLY; AND ZONE III, AN AREA WHERE NO DAMAGE TO THE TARGETS WAS SEEN. BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY, ASSUMING THAT SIMILAR DAMAGE WOULD OCCUR IN A LIVE HUMAN, THE FOLLOWING CONCLUSIONS CAN BE REACHED: 19 IMPACTS IN THE HEAD REGION SHOULD BE DEEMED HAZARDOUS IN VARYING DEGREES UP TO 50 FEET (15.2 METERS) FROM THE MUZZLE. 2. IMPACTS IN THE LIVER AREA SHOULD BE CONSIDERED EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS UP TO 7 FEET (2.1 METERS) FROM THE MUZZLE. BEYOND THAT POINT, POTENTIAL DAMAGE OF VARYING DEGREES CAN BE EXPECTED AT RANGES AS FAR FROM THE MUZZLE AS 115 FEET (35 METERS). 3. THORAX AREA IMPACTS SHOULD NOT CONSISTENTLY PRODUCE LUNG OR HEART BRUISING OVER THE ENTIRE RANGE OF IMPACT VELOCITIES COVERED IN THE TESTING. 4. ANY IMPACTS ON THE EYE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS OVERALL. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)