The Flood Gates Are Open: The First “Rust” Lawsuit Has Been Filed Against Alec Baldwin And Others Who Worked On The Movie
The first of what will surely be many more lawsuits to come has been filed against Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, and Dave Halls over the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the western Rust. According to TMZ, Serge Svetnoy, a gaffer on the production who was there that day, has filed the suit “claiming the defendants’ alleged negligence caused him severe emotional distress in the aftermath of it all.” As we know, Alec pulled the trigger on the gun that sent a bullet through Haylna’s body and into director Joel Souza’s shoulder. As armorer, Hannah loaded the gun and Dave handed it to Alec claiming it was “cold,” indicating that it did not contain live rounds. Tragically that was not the case. In fact, NBC News reports that the Santa Fe District Attorney announced today that police found “additional live rounds” among the 500 rounds of ammunition that were collected in the days following the incident.
TMZ reports that Serge, the gaffer who is suing, says he was standing right next to his “good friend” Halyna when the bullet that killed her “zoomed by and nearly hit him too,” and that he “was one of the first people on hand to tend to Halyna while she was profusely bleeding … attempting to comfort her and keep her conscious.” So yeah, going Travis Scott’s route by partnering with BetterHelp wouldn’t have done Alec any favors either.
The key gaffer on “Rust” is now taking legal action against Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and Dave Halls … suing them over the fatal shooting that killed Halyna Hutchins.
As for why he’s suing Baldwin, the suit claims he “owed a duty to the Plaintiff and other crew members and actors on the ‘Rust’ set to handle the Colt Revolver provided to him by defendant Halls with reasonable care and diligence for the safety of ‘Rust’ cast and crew.” It goes on to say, “This duty called for Defendant Baldwin to double-check the Colt Revolver with Halls upon being handled to ensure that it did not contain live ammunition.”
And, it goes on … “This duty further called for him [Baldwin] to handle the Colt Revolver as if it was loaded and to refrain from pointing it at anyone.” In other words, the suit claims negligence on Baldwin’s part.
And, there’s this … according to the lawsuit, the scene Baldwin was rehearsing did not call for him to pull the trigger. According to the lawsuit, the scene called for Baldwin to draw the gun and point it in the general direction of the camera, but, “the scene did not call for Defendant Baldwin to shoot the Colt Revolver.”
Serge’s suit goes on to echo some of Hannah’s early defense by stating Alec and the other producers “attempted to save money by hiring an insufficient number of crew members to safely handle the props and firearms,” and that there were other safety issues including “violating industry norms, declining requests for weapons training days, failing to allow proper time to allow for gunfire, failing to send out safety bulletins and spreading the staff too thin.” Oh, and the mysterious appearance of live rounds on set.
The suit also claims the target practice that was going on shortly before the tragedy was “outrageous.”
NBC News reports that while the SFDA doesn’t yet know how or why live rounds were there (they don’t have the luxury of simply saying, “duh: see above” as we do here), they have concluded that “sabotage,” as Hannah’s team implied, has been ruled that out as a possibility.
Carmack-Altwies acknowledged there were more live rounds found on set, but did not release any details on how many. She deemed it “concerning” that live rounds were found at all.
“We still don’t know how they got on the set. And how they got there, I think, will be one of the most important factors going into a charging decision,” she said. “It’s probably more important to focus on what led up to the shooting because the moment of the shooting, we know that at least Mr. Baldwin had no idea that the gun was loaded, so it’s more how did that gun get loaded, what levels of failure happened and were those levels of failure criminal?”
“I know that some defense attorneys have come up with conspiracy theories and used the word sabotage. We do not have proof,” she said. When asked if sabotage is a possibility in the case, she responded, “No.”
She said you can try that shit in civil court, but we’re not having it.
Pic: Wenn.com