Abstract

This paper presents a case study which utilized many of the latest forensic technologies to reconstruct the events that occurred during an officer-involved shooting incident in which a police officer fatally shot a fellow police officer. The shooting reconstruction utilized 3-D high definition laser scanning, “matchmoving” police video footage from an infrared radar camera mounted on a police helicopter, motion capture, photogrammetry, 3-D interactive virtual shooting scene and Virtual Reality display systems.

This paper also outlines how the trajectory of bullets were reconstructed, how the position and posture of the shooting officer (Officer Baker) and victim officer (Officer Dole) were determined.

Finally, federal judge ruling on various Daubert motions (509 U.S. 579 [1993]) to exclude or limits testimony of expert witnesses are presented.

Authors

By Richard M. Ziernicki, Ph.D., P.E., F 308
Angelos G. Leiloglou, M. Arch. 956C