On October 21, 2021, Alec Baldwin was involved in the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins, the director of photography for Rust, the actor was rehearsing with the prop gun and the firearm discharged killing Halyna Hutchins and injuring the director of the film. A lawsuit was filed against the actor and the production team of Rust over safety protocols.
However, the situation is looking bleak for Alec Baldwin as three crew members have come forward to file a new lawsuit against the star claiming they were on the scene and suffered blast injuries. The crew members claim they have had anxiety and symptoms of PTSD since they were in the room during the tragedy.
What are the Crew Members Claiming About the Tragedy?
Ross Addiego, Doran Curtin, and Reese Price, the three crew members who are filing a lawsuit against Alec Baldwin, Rust Movie Productions, LLC, and El Dorado Pictures for compensatory and punitive damages following injuries suffered on set, “including, but not limited to, hearing loss, temporary deafness, and vibrational shock,” per the suit.
The three crew members have claimed the Western-themed movie had only 21 days to shoot and constantly had “safety complaints” throughout the production of the shoot. David Halls, who was the assistant director constantly “cut corners” with safety protocols and skipped the essential set moves, Halls did fail to “properly distribute” safety bulletins and how cast and crew should handle firearms with care.
According to the documents, the crew members reminisced that Alec Baldwin took the gun on the set on the day of the tragedy and there were no safety tests or demonstrations before the distribution of the firearms.
“No one examined the revolver before Halls handed it to Defendant Baldwin. He did not request that anyone verify or demonstrate the revolver’s safety before this exchange. And he did not ask to see whether ammunition was present inside the revolver’s chamber – despite his knowledge of the observable differences between a live and dummy round, and a loaded and unloaded chamber. Instead, Defendant Baldwin accepted the revolver without any verification that it was a ‘cold gun.'”
The crew members claim that Alec Baldwin started to “practice his draw” with limited crew members inside the church. The actor was drawing the prop gun in front of the crew members and during the third draw Baldwin cocked the firearm shooting the Hutchins and injuring the crew members.
“With his right hand, Defendant Baldwin repeatedly drew the revolver across his body from the left shoulder holster and pointed it in the direction of the crew members standing in front of him, including Plaintiffs. [On the third draw] Defendant Baldwin cocked the hammer of the revolver with the trigger pulled and fired it towards the crew striking Hutchins, and injuring Plaintiffs.”
The documents also stated that the sound was deafening and after none of them received any medical services and they have suffered from health issues such as “insomnia, anxiety, depression, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“The sound from the live discharge inside the small church was deafening, causing Plaintiffs to suffer blast injuries. After the shooting, Defendants offered no diagnostic services or any meaningful emotional or mental health services to Plaintiffs. Despite this, Plaintiffs have independently sought support in dealing with their injuries which include, but are not limited to, insomnia, anxiety, depression, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Since the firearms were not checked and there were no proper safety protocols during the shoot of the film which is so firearm heavy, it was just a disaster waiting to happen.
Which Other Safety Protocols were Broken During the Shoot of the Film?
TMZ has obtained some documents from the plaintiffs which state that there were numerous protocols that were skipped during the film, if followed it would have avoided the death of Halyna Hutchins. One of the instances was that the crew members believed that the producer decided to use real firearms instead of having options such as prop guns, replicas, special effects, or replicas.
They stated that there were no safety protocols and there were numerous “accidental discharges” taking place before the day of Alec Baldwin shooting Hatchins. The crew members also stated that Alec Baldwin and others screwed the pooch by hiring Hanna Gutierrez Reed, despite lacking essential experience.
Source: TMZ
