Detroit woman saved from robber's bullet by her bra

Published 23 April 2009

Some manufacturers of bras for full-figured women use wiring in their lingerie to offer women more support and prevent what is called “breast spillage”; such wiring offers more than support — it offers protection

Let’s see whether we can introduce this story delicately. Women bra manufacturers who cater to the needs of full-figured women, use wiring in their larger bra size offerings (DD and above) in order to offer women more support and prevent what people in the bra business call “breast spillage.” The good thing is that such reinforcing wiring offers women more than support — it offers protection as well.

In evidence: A 57-year old woman was thanking her lucky bras this week after her underwear’s underwiring deflected a burglar’s bullet. The woman was a witness to a home invasion robbery on Detroit’s North Side. Three men were breaking into a neighboring house and set off the burglar alarm. As they fled the scene, they noticed the woman watching them from her window, and apparently let loose with a pistol. While the woman took a slug in the chest, the bra’s wiring stopped the bullet from penetrating her body, leaving her with just grazes. “A miracle bra, yes. That’s what saved her life,” said one neighbor. The woman’s daughter said her mother’s minor injuries were mainly from the broken glass.

Police are looking for four men seen escaping from the scene in a purple Dodge Neon. The color and make of the bra was not reported.

Joe Fay writes that the woman is the second in a week to owe her life to the lingerie engineer’s art. A Brazilian woman who was caught in crossfire between robbers and police last week was hit in the chest, and only survived because she had stuffed her bra with cash for safekeeping.