Blunt liver trauma from bean bag ammunition.

Police departments in Europe are increasingly using nonlethal weapons and/or ammunitions such as a bean bag to restrain and disable a person temporarily. A bean bag is a small nylon bag filled with metal balls that is fired from a shotgun and weighs approximately 50 g. It is successfully used in the United States by law enforcement personnel. This report describes a case in which use of a bean bag resulted in a contusion of the liver, which was treated conservatively.