AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A group of doctors in Austin, Texas, warned Friday against police use of so-called ‘less fatal’ ammunition to control the crowd after treating people who were seriously injured in protests in May.
In a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 12 doctors from the Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas, Austin police said that bone marrow dislocation caused injuries including bleeding on the brain and a skull fracture.
“I’ve been all over the world and I’ve never seen such beanbag injuries,” said Dr. Jayson Aydelotte, who helped the author. “I always thought she killed your breast and that’s it.”
Aydelotte, a trauma surgeon at Dell Seton Medical Center, said based on his experience in the military, beanbag bullet injuries are similar to those caused by a normal bullet. He said all doctors were surprised at the severity of the impact wounds among the patients who were affected.
“Although our report reflects the experience in only one center in a short period of time and we can not determine the frequency of injuries when this ammunition is used, these findings highlight the fact that beanbag ammunition can cause serious damage and are not suitable for use in crowd control, “the letter said.” In light of the ongoing nationwide protests, these observations are relevant to the wider medical community, as well as to policymakers seeking to reduce rates of police-induced injuries and deaths. “
The Austin police officer planned in June to stop rolling beanbag rounds in crowds became critically injured after teenage protests when he hit him in the head with a beanbag.
There has not been much research done into the impact of less fatal ammunition and what exists indicates small blunt injury patterns, the doctors said in the letter. But some cases they witnessed in Austin resulted in a need for serious treatment, including emergency intubation and longer stays in intensive care units.
Dr Kristofor Olson said he was on duty in the Dell Seton emergency room when the patients who were hit by beanbags entered. He said he was shocked by the volume of people arriving both nights in late May with beanbag injuries.
Patients ranged in age from 16 to 54, the letter said, and five of the injured had head injuries. Two had facial fractures, and 12 had other injuries, including bruises, cuts and other bone fractures. The doctors’ letter includes images from CT scans to show brain and skull injuries and a photo of a patient with a beanbag in her face.
Olson and Dr. Laura Haselden were lead authors of the letter, which said of the 19 people treated at the UT hospital, eight were admitted to the hospital, seven underwent surgery and four stored fragments as whole beanbag bullets.
Protests erupted nationwide in May following the death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes, even after Floyd said he could not breathe.
The use of force to quell demonstrations against police brutality has caused national outcry, most notably when federal agents clashed with Protestants in Portland, Oregon, and legislation used tear gas and flash bangs to break up a peaceful rally in Washington, DC, before President Donald Trump walked to a church to photograph a Bible.
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Acacia Coronado is a corps member for the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues.
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