Have You Suffered Shoulder Injuries as a Result of Using a 5.11 Medium Battering Ram?

Contact McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP for help today

McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP is currently litigating cases on behalf of several Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers against 5.11, Inc. for injuries we believe were sustained from using this product. The 5.11 Tactical Medium Battering Ram has been discontinued by its manufacturer.

The Product Defect Theories We Are Alleging Against the 5.11 Medium Battering Ram:

In working with our experts, we believe the 5.11 Medium Battering Ram has a series of design flaws: the hard, fixed metal handles, combined with the spacing between the handles, makes it inherently dangerous for users based on how the force is transferred to the user. Our experts have identified what they believe to be at least three major design flaws:

1. A welded handle. The hard metal handle welded to the hard metal body of the ram does not provide any design characteristics to lessen the force transferred to the user. There are available/known reasonable design alternatives, such as having rotational movement in the handles at the attachment, which would allow for the impulse duration to be increased (the time it takes the force to move to the user), which would in turn reduce the force transferred to the operator’s body. Meaning, if you stretch out the time to absorb the force, the peak amount of force decreases, and vice-versa.
2. Defective grips. The grips should have been coated with foam, rubber, or some other force absorbing material. If there was a foam or rubber material on the handle, upon impact, the impulse energy transferred to the user would be less.
3. Wider space between handles. The larger spacing between the handles is also a defect in the 5.11, Inc. Medium Ram. Having the handles farther apart creates unnecessary extension of the shoulders, which upon impact creates an increased probability of injury. When the shoulders are wider apart, as in the 5.11, Inc. Medium Battering ram, the impact force is being transferred to the internal structures of the shoulder when they are already in traction. By then adding additional force when these structures are already under stress, the added force is sufficient to cause injuries of the type sustained by the Plaintiffs in this case. Think of a baseball player holding his hands close together when striking a 100-MPH fast ball.