A new machine allows the GBI's Macon crime lab to do full body X-ray scans in just 13 seconds. 13WMAZ took a look at the lab's quarter-million-dollar device.
Brian Hargett says it used to take up to an hour at the GBI central lab to do a full-body X-ray process, but with the new machine Hargett says it takes just 13 seconds.
“It allows us to get better quality images than what we used to be able to do as well as in a more timely fashion,” says Hargett. He says they bought The Lodox Machine for $250,000, but he says the machine will save them money which will pay of the cost in just a few years.
“We have about 40 to 50 cases a month that come to this facility,” says Hargett, cases that he says can be solved much faster thanks to the new machine.
“Blunt force injury case. An accident, something like that where there might be a lot of injuries that need to be documented,” says Hargett. He says the machine also allows them to do lateral X-rays. In order to do a lateral X-ray, Hargett pushed a button and the machine formed a half-circle over the table.
The pictures then get sent to a computer where medical examiners can refer to them during autopsies.
“The quality of this image is a lot better than the technology we had prior,” says Hargett. He says they have already used the machine on human bodies.