Dr. Toby Hayes performs a police baton impact test to the head of a dummy.
On July 22, 2020, a 20-year old criminal defendant on trial in Marion County accused of Assault II (mandatory sentence of 7+ years) and Burglary I (potential sentence of 20 years) was found not guilty on all four charges that he faced, allowing him to walk free after spending 6 months in jail.
The charges stemmed from an altercation with three individuals who described the Defendant using a 2-foot, thin, black object that “looked like a police baton.” The object was never found. One of the residents sustained a 2 cm laceration over the eye and two cuts to the hand.
Wilson C. “Toby” Hayes, Ph.D., founder of Hayes+Associates, Inc., was called as first witness by Defense Attorney David T. Wallace of Salem, OR (www.saleminjury.com). Hayes described a series of experiments that he and engineer, Alex Mikes, had conducted, that clearly demonstrated that a strike from a police baton (see short video above) can create forces well in excess of 1100 lbs. Such forces would be expected to cause severe, localized fractures over the eye, rather than the minor laceration and bruising that actually occurred.
In dramatic testimony, based on an analysis of one of the police body-cam videos by H+A former Associate, Jeremy Bauer, Ph.D. (www.bauerforensics.com), Hayes showed the jury a picture of a knife found at the scene. In an enlargement, Hayes pointed out the presence of a red substance that he characterized as blood.
Hayes told the jury that the Defendant had not used a dangerous weapon like a baton, since it would have caused a fracture, though no fracture occurred. Instead, he said the laceration over the eye was caused by a punch. He also testified that the cuts on the hand were not caused by an object like a baton, but instead by the knife belonging to the residents and found at the scene.
After closing arguments by David Wallace and an hour-long deliberation, the jury returned a not guilty verdict on all four counts thereby allowing the Defendant to be released.
Hayes+Associates, Inc. (https://www.hayesassoc.com) is an expert witness and consulting firm based in Corvallis, OR. The company brings more than 75 years of collective experience in academic research, university teaching and forensic testimony to practice areas that include vehicle collisions, premises safety, slips and falls, products liability, worker safety, sports and recreation, patent litigation and criminal matters.