Halyna Hutchins’ Family Has Sued Alec Baldwin And Others For Wrongful Death
The family of late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is suing Alec Baldwin for wrongful death for his involvement in the tragic accidental shooting on the set of Rust back in October. The lawsuit claims Alec “recklessly shot and killed Halyna Hutchins.” It’s not just Alec who’s being sued; defendants also include armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, assistant director David Hall, a bunch of production companies, and the company that provided the ammunition. Despite Alec’s interview claim that he never pulled the trigger on the gun that killed Halyna, the suit is saying he did. They allege that Alec pulling the trigger, plus many, many lapses in safety on-set, led to Halyna’s death.
The lawsuit has been filed by 42-year-old Hylana’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, on behalf of himself and his son, 9-year-old Andros. Their complaint reads, via People:
Baldwin, 63, “and the other Defendants in this case failed to perform industry standard safety checks and follow basic gun safety rules while using real guns to produce the movie Rust, with fatal consequences.”
Halyna’s estate and her husband, who are being repped by Panish, Shea, Boyle, Ravipudi LLP., are asking for punitive damages to be determined at the trial:
…funeral and burial expenses as well as compensatory damages for “the loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, guidance, training, assistance and moral support” of Halyna, according to the complaint.
In his December ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos, Alec said, “I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never.” Halyna’s family’s lawsuit calls bullshit on that. They say Alec was only 4 feet away from members of the crew when he reached across his body with his right hand to grab the gun holstered on his left side, drew the gun, and aimed it at Hylana while drawing back the hammer (the part of the revolver that ignites the propellant and fires the “projectile” [in this case a real live bullet]). The suit claims, via TMZ:
“He released the revolver’s hammer, and — BAM — defendant Baldwin fired the revolver.” Baldwin said in an interview he did not pull the trigger, but at a news conference Tuesday the Hutchins’ lawyer said “I think it’s clear what happened. Alec had the gun in his hand, he shot it — Halyna was killed. The gun cannot fire unless the trigger is engaged and the hammer is back.”
The suit says Baldwin never checked the gun himself for ammo before using it.
The lawsuit says that “Halyna deserved to live” and the people being sued had the power to prevent her death. The complaint says it was cost-cutting decisions that jeopardized on-set safety that led to her death; the hiring of inexperienced armorers, making the armorer double-duty as the assistant props master, rushed production schedules.
The lawsuit also included the damning texts from a few days before Hylana was killed. A local camera operator complained to producers that there had been “3 accidental discharges” and that was “super unsafe.” The unit production manager texted back (“with callous sarcasm,” according to the lawsuit): “Accidental discharge on the firearms? Awesome. Sounds good.” UM…
So far no comment on the new lawsuit from Alec, who was also a producer on Rust. But you know he and his wife Hilaria Baldwin are already enthusiastically working on his defense. Spoiler alert: it includes so many of Alec’s drawings:
Is Alec Baldwin taunting the sheriff investigating him ? Look what he’s holding… pic.twitter.com/ZUkjAPPzxD
— Emily Miller (@emilymiller) January 13, 2022
Pic: INSTAR