NCJ Number
184286
Journal
Journal of Forensic Identification Volume: 50 Issue: 4 Dated: July-August 2000 Pages: 351-356
Date Published
2000
Length
6 pages
Annotation
A hit-and-run incident in Israel that severely injured a police officer was resolved by a combination of scientific evidence compiled from two forensic laboratories.
Abstract
The story was published in the local newspaper with a description of the car involved. The same day of the newspaper publication a member of the Israeli civilian guard was looking for spare parts for his car in a garage not far from the city where the hit-and-run occurred. He noticed a car that fit the description provided in the newspaper that morning. When police were called to investigate, they found a blue BMW that had recently been fixed. A search of the garage premises and adjoining garbage containers yielded a number of parts from the car before work had been completed. The items included a shattered front windshield, a broken left headlight, a torn test sticker, and the grill. These items were taken from the garage, and along with the items retrieved from the hit-and-run scene, were delivered to the forensic toolmark laboratory and the forensic biology laboratory of the Israeli police. The toolmark laboratory was requested to determine whether there was a connection between the glass fragments and the metal frame found at the accident site and the damaged car parts located at the garage, thus placing them on the same vehicle. The biology laboratory was requested to locate blood or other tissue from the shattered windshield and to attempt a DNA comparison between this material and the injured police officer's blood. The laboratories were able to link the car both to the crime scene and to the victim. 1 figure, 1 table, and 4 references