Alec Baldwin just got hit with another lawsuit for actions related to the October 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halayna Hutchins. In this latest litigation, three crew members who were close to the shooting and had to assist in the immediate bloody aftermath are claiming Baldwin acted negligently and that he committed “intentional infliction of emotional distress” on them.
The three former crew, identified as Ross Addiego, Doran Curtin and Reese Price, allege that the entire set was lacking proper safety protocols and contend that a tragedy was essentially waiting to happen.
TMZ obtained court documents and specified the type of violations witnessed by the plaintiffs. One of the central themes is that the use of a loaded firearm could have been avoided altogether. TMZ wrote:
For instance, the three crew members place a lot of the blame on what they claim was the producers’ decision to use “operable firearms” during 17 of the 21 scheduled film days … despite the option to use alternatives like replicas, rubber prop guns, or special effects. They also point out many alleged safety shortcuts on set … like not properly investigating previous accidental discharges that they say occurred prior to that fateful day.
“Not just that,” TMZ continued, “but the crew members say Alec and others screwed the pooch with the hiring of armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, even though they say she ‘lacked essential experience.’”
For her role in the shooting, Gutierrez-Reed has already been charged with involuntary manslaughter. Alec Baldwin also faces the same criminal charges. He has entered a plea of not guilty.
In order to secure a conviction in the criminal case, the state will have to show that Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed possessed and acted with “subjective knowledge of the danger posed by their actions in order to get a conviction. The defendants have said they had no idea that a live bullet was on set,” Variety wrote.
The criminal case, if taken up by the court upon seeing enough evidence from prosecutors, could begin as soon as May of this year.
According to parts of the latest civil suit, Doran Curtin contends that Hutchins was killed and fell to the ground directly in front of her. She says that Hutchins, still alive, “grabbed at her abdomen” in a vain effort to seek help.
“She watched in shock as Hutchins grabbed at her abdomen,” the lawsuit reads. “Plaintiff Curtin put her hands on Hutchins’ stomach, trying to find the source of Hutchins’ pain and figure out what was going on. As the chaos continued, Plaintiff Curtin was ushered out of the church. Once outside, she collapsed from the effects of the blast and the shock of the shooting.”
The number of cases against Baldwin continue to add up. In addition to the pending criminal case for involuntary manslaughter, he has already previously settled out of court with Hutchins’ surviving husband.
Then, Fox News broke the story that power attorney Gloria Alred was representing the surviving related kin to the dead cinematographer. Fox wrote:
Attorney Gloria Allred filed a lawsuit alleging battery, loss of consortium, infliction of emotional distress and more on behalf of Hutchins’ mother, sister and father, Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Allred further claimed that Hutchins was financially responsible for her family and had plans to bring them with her to live in America.
Compounding the family’s frustrations is the fact that Baldwin has allegedly never reached out to the family and apologized. No doubt, his legal team as likely advised against such a move – or at least, we can hope that’s the reason; silence for silence’s sake would be a disgusting display of inhuman detachment – although it remains confusing why Baldwin went on national television after the shooting occurred. He most famously sat down for an interview with George Stephanopolous and abdicated himself from any personal responsibility.
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