EXTREMELY GRUESOME: Motorcycle accident

[snopes]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/gruesome/motopole.asp

[snopes]

[snopes]

Comment: RE: the motorcyclist allegedly cut in half by a roadside pole:

One thing that strikes me (no pun intended) as odd is the "neatness" of
the torso scission relative to the size of the post. It seems to me that
either the unfortunate fellow would ricochet around it, the direction
determined by where the impact point was relative to his center of mass. I
would think the injuries would be fatal and nasty looking (including a
broken spine), but that he'd more likely look like his buttocks and legs
were on backwards than be completely bisected.

(A textbook on forensic pathology shows a scene similar to this one except
the rider's head struck a thin signpost and was split like a coconut. At
least brain death was instant.)

Could the telephone-type pole tear someone in half thru. the abdomen? I
can't say "no." I think that it would require such tremendous velocity
that the victim's body would have far more injuries than this man, due to
repeated impacts with the pavement.

So are the photos real? You're more experienced at assessing that than I;
my suspicion is that whatever cut the man isn't in these pix.

[Tootsie Plunkette]

Someone else tried to verify/debunk these photos.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

I'd have to agree that a round pole nearly as big around as the man's waist would almost certainly not have caused a slice-through, as shown. I cannot even tell why it is assumed that the pole caused the injuries - a more likely scenario it seems to me would be passing under something horizontal, like a truck across his path, or a wire. It also seems odd that the head seems undamaged, though it had to have hit the pavement hard.

[mags]

There is a helmet in the road. I assume it cushioned the initial impact before tearing off. One of the things I saw skimming that linked page was the mention of an apparent "chinstrap injury."

[nonnieyrissa]

There isn't a pole shown ATNM. Do you mean that it would need to be that wide to sever his torso? I would think it would be a thin pole, or more likely a even thinner sign that caused this. Like a stop sign hit sideways. Imagine trying to cut through a loaf of bread with a knife the safe thickness as the bread's width...

[snopes]

Originally Posted by nonnieyrissa

There isn't a pole shown ATNM.

The link in the OP has additional photos.

[Hummelcat]

Where's the blood? A bit is pooled under the waist of the top half of the body, but wouldn't there be a splay of blood on the lamp post and on the road as the body parts flew through the air? Um, I see what appears to be a faint red strip across the post. But where's the blood?

The shirt and shorts aren't soaked in blood?

The socks/shoes and exposed legs and arms are amazingly unscuffed for such a violent experience.

I guess until someone verifies that these pictures are actually representing a real accident, I'm handling the gruesomeness by seeing "movie set" or "drive safely commercial" in my mind. I'll get squeamish when y'all verify that it's real.

If it IS real, I'm sorry for the guy and for the folks who had to deal with it and for the family.

[mags]

Don't go to Tootsie's link if you want to continue to see it as a movie set, but suffice it to say, more than one emergency worker has weighed in that the blood looks plausible.

After just skimming that site, I'm fairly certain the accident was real. It is pretty well researched.

[nonnieyrissa]

Originally Posted by snopes

The link in the OP has additional photos.

Thank you!

Okay, that is a thick pole. No idea how plausible it would be, I assume if this is a real accident the speed of the motorcycle was insane.

[Ali Infree]

What about the collision with the pole stopping and spinning the motorcycle and the handlebars and upper fairing of the bike having caused the damage? My vision (I hope I forget this before I go to sleep tonight!) is that the upper body is forced over the handlebars, and then handlebars drive through the lower abdomen. Imagine this in a spinning violent crash.

I have read about Formula One drivers losing the skin on a hand (the injury was described as being degloved) from a crash where their heavy wristwatch kept moving after the hand had stopped. I am thinking that the forces involved in this crash might have involved the bike hitting the pole and wrapping around it while doing this damage.

Now I want to stop thinking about it.

Ali

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Ali, your scenario might work, although I question whether the impact would create sufficient relative velocities, but the bike is shown in one of the pics on its side near the end of the ambulance. It really does not appear to be substantially damaged, at least not to the extent that your scenario seems to require.

[Blatherskite]

Originally Posted by Hummelcat

Where's the blood?

Odd as it may seem, this is what leads me to believe the picture is real. That is, I am sure it is real in the sense that it's not 'shopped, but I also believe it's not a movie or television prop or artistic instalment of some kind. Most people would expect the parts of a severed body to be liberally bathed in blood. Most people would expect it, so a TV show or film would make sure it appeared that way. Reality often seems 'unrealistic' because it often differs from what people expect to happen, whereas art conforms to what we expect or else it runs the risk of seeming 'unrealistic'.

[erwins]

Yeah, I've seen quite a few crime scene photos, and they tend to be much less bloody than comparable TV and movie scenes. These photos look very real to me.

I don't have anything to back it up, but I picture the accident as something happening to the bike (hitting a curb, or something like that) and the rider becoming airborne, then hitting the post or other solid object at the abdomen level.

[Tootsie Plunkette]

This site has some additional photos (I think), but no commentary. The Wayback machine says it's been there since February 25, 2006, so the incident was sometime prior to that date.

[Latiam]

The last post on your first site is someone who says he came across the accident and it was in either 2003 or 2004, probably 2003.

[Inzl Kett]

The body looks pretty messed up with it severed in half with jagged edges. Even one of the legs appears to have damaged skin. The cut isn't clean. It's pretty realistic to think an impact with a pole could have done this.

[duras]

Originally Posted by Blatherskite

Odd as it may seem, this is what leads me to believe the picture is real. That is, I am sure it is real in the sense that it's not 'shopped, but I also believe it's not a movie or television prop or artistic instalment of some kind. Most people would expect the parts of a severed body to be liberally bathed in blood. Most people would expect it, so a TV show or film would make sure it appeared that way. Reality often seems 'unrealistic' because it often differs from what people expect to happen, whereas art conforms to what we expect or else it runs the risk of seeming 'unrealistic'.

From a physiology standpoint it makes sense.

The majority of blood that goes to your heart comes up through the inferior vena cava. That was severed the moment his body was cut in half. In physiology terms this means the "preload" or the blood that entered the heart became almost zero in a moment. For its last few beats, the heart was probably pumping nothing. This means the only blood you see pooled below him was the blood left in the descending aorta and the inferior vena cava that simply leaked out.