A member of the Alec Baldwin film crew is suing for carelessness
Image credit: The Japan Times
The head electrician on the film site where he accidentally shot and killed camerawoman Halyna Hutchins last month is suing Alec Baldwin and other crew members.
Serge Svetnoy, a friend of Hutchins’, accuses him of neglect that caused him “severe emotional distress.” He claimed he was just a fraction of a second away from being hit by a bullet.
Authorities are presently investigating the event that occurred on October 21 in New Mexico. No criminal charges have been filed against anyone.
According to a court document, Assistant Director Dave Halls revealed to investigators that before passing the rifle over to Mr. Baldwin, he forgot to verify all of the ammunition in the gun.
When Mr. Halls handed it over to the actor, he reportedly stated cold gun, suggesting that he thought it was safe. A film director was also injured while filming the Western picture Rust.
In Los Angeles, Mr. Svetnoy, 63, filed a civil complaint. Almost a half-dozen persons have been identified as defendants. At a news conference on Wednesday, he said he had seen firearms resting unattended in the dirt a few days before the fatal shooting and had warned the perpetrators.
In his lawsuit, he alleges he “felt a bizarre and alarming whoosh of what felt like pressurised air” when the gun went off on the day of the incident. The blast’s discharging materials hit him.
Mr. Baldwin, 63, and the other defendants in the case have yet to make any public statements about the latest developments.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armourer in charge of firearms and ammunition on set, released a statement on Wednesday claiming she had no knowledge how a live bullet wound up on set.
In an interview on Wednesday, Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said that investigators “do not have any proof” of sabotage.
She went on to explain that while considering whether to press charges, “one of the most crucial aspects” would be how live bullets got into the set.