Bullet-deflecting accessories16-year old Seattle girl escapes injury: her glasses deflect bullet

Published 31 December 2013

A 16-year old girl escaped potentially life-threatening injury when the glasses she was wearing deflected a bullet fired from a car toward her Seattle home, the Seattle police said. The girl was asleep on her living room couch, with her glasses on, near 10:00 p.m. on Saturday when several shots were fired at the house from a dark-colored sedan. Most of the bullets went through the walls of the house, but one of them went through the front window, striking the bridge of the teen’s glasses. The girl suffered only minor injuries.

A 16-year old girl escaped potentially life-threatening injury when the glasses she was wearing deflected a bullet fired from a car toward her Seattle home, the Seattle police said.

Seattle police spokesman Detective Mark Jamieson the girl was asleep on her living room couch, with her glasses on, near 10:00 p.m. on Saturday when several shots were fired at the house from a dark-colored sedan in appears to be a case of drive-by shooting.

The Express Tribune reports that most of the bullets went through the walls of the house, but one of them went through the front window, striking the bridge of the teen’s glasses.

The girl was rushed to the hospital with what Jamieson describes as minor injuries, and was released after a couple of hours.

“She is very, very fortunate,” Jamieson said.

Jamieson added that there were other people at the house at the time of the shooting, but no one was injured.

Police say the shooting may have been the result of gang-related conflict, but that the girl was not the target of the attack.

The police gang unit is investigating the shooting.

The Seattle case of an article of clothing saving the wearer’s life is reminiscent of similar case in Detroit four years ago. That case involved a reinforced bra (see “Detroit woman saved from robber’s bullet by her bra,” HSNW, 23 April 2009).

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.” It appears that such reinforcing wiring offers women more than support — it offers protection as well.

In evidence, a case from April 2009: A 57-year old woman was thanking her lucky bras 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.