Citation

O'Halloran RL, Dietz PE. J. Forensic Sci. 1993; 38(2): 359-364.

Affiliation

Ventura County Medical Examiner Office, CA.

Comment In:

J Forensic Sci 1994;39(5):1143-4

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8454997

Abstract

We report two cases in which men used the hydraulic shovels on tractors to suspend themselves for masochistic sexual stimulation. One man developed a romantic attachment to a tractor, even giving it a name and writing poetry in its honor. He died accidentally while intentionally asphyxiating himself through suspension by the neck, leaving clues that he enjoyed perceptual distortions during asphyxiation. The other man engaged in sexual bondage and transvestic fetishism, but did not purposely asphyxiate himself. He died when accidentally pinned to the ground under a shovel after intentionally suspending himself by the ankles. We compare these cases with other autoerotic fatalities involving perceptual distortion, cross-dressing, machinery, and postural asphyxiation by chest compression.

Language: en