A lawsuit from the family of Halyna Hutchins, has alleged that Alec Baldwin “recklessly shot and killed” the cinematographer on the set of ‘Rust’ last year, 2021.
Ms. Hutchins died during a scene rehearsal after a gun held by Baldwin discharged a live round. Baldwin is one of several defendants named in the wrongful death lawsuit.
Lawyers for the Hutchins family noted that she would still be alive if crew members had not cut corners.
The lawsuit was filed in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico on behalf of Ms. Hutchins’ husband, Matthew and son, Andros, and seeks unspecified damages. At a news conference, lawyers for the Hutchins family also presented an animated re-enactment of the shooting.
They claimed Baldwin and others “failed to perform industry-standard safety checks and follow basic gun safety rules”.
The lawsuit also faults producers for “cutting corners on safety procedures where human lives were at stake, rushing to stay on schedule and ignoring numerous complaints of safety violations”.
Other defendants named are assistant director, David Halls, armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, and prop master, Sarah Zachry.
Mr. Halls and Ms. Gutierrez-Reed have both faced complaints in the past that they did not adhere to on-set safety measures.
According to reports, this lawsuit could be very serious for Alec Baldwin since a wrongful death lawsuit will focus not on what was done, but on what was not done. As both producer and star of the now-defunct ‘Rust’, he will have to defend himself on several fronts and show that he met safety procedures that should be in place on all film sets and that he fulfilled his duty of care.
There have been reports that a number of crew members had left the ‘Rust’ set because they felt safety standards were not up to notch before the tragedy happened.
The lawsuit alleges that Baldwin recklessly discharged a lethal weapon. That is a criminal offense in New Mexico where the shooting happened.
The criminal investigation into the incident is still ongoing with the Santa Fe Sherriff’s Office, which is trying to determine how live ammunition got onto the set.
The weapon that killed Ms. Hutchins was a “45 Colt revolver” that was supposed to contain dummy rounds.
Baldwin, the Western film’s star and co-producer, had been practicing drawing the gun and pointing it at the camera when it fired a single live round. Ms. Hutchins, who was setting up for the next scene, was hit in the chest. The film’s director, Joel Souza, was also hit in the shoulder but survived.
According to reports, around 500 rounds of ammunition, a mix of blanks, dummy rounds, and live rounds, were later located on the set. In the aftermath of the incident, Baldwin expressed “shock and sadness” over what he called a “tragic accident”. However, in December 2021, he told ABC News that he never pulled the trigger of the gun.
Last month, he turned over his mobile phone to investigators after they accused him of blocking their probe.
Meanwhile, several lawsuits relating to the film set have been filed, and Baldwin was previously named in one filing over negligence. No criminal charges have yet emerged, but police have not ruled it out.
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