The family of Halyna Hutchins, the woman who was shot to death on the set of the western Rust, yesterday sued actor Alec Baldwin for wrongful death, who fired the gun.
Baldwin was rehearsing on a set of New Mexico in October a scene with a revolver with Halyna Hutchins, the film’s director of photography, when she was fatally shot.
Lawyer Brian Parnishin a press conference given yesterday, argued that Baldwin and other producers of the western engaged in “reckless conduct and measures to reduce costs”, which led to the death of Hutchins.
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The attorney representing Mathew and Andros, husband and son of Hutchins, presented a list of “at least 15 industry-standard procedures” that they said were ignored by producers on set.
These include not using prop weapons in lieu of a real gun, a lack of people qualified to handle weapons on set, and a lack of protective equipment for workers.
“Defendant Baldwin and the other defendants in this case failed to perform industry standard security checks. and they failed to follow basic gun safety rules while using real guns to produce the film Rust with fatal consequences,” says the lawsuit filed in Santa Fe County District Court.
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Parnish also argued that Baldwin “refused” to be trained to draw the gun.
The lawyer showed a 3D reconstruction of the incident. The lawsuit was filed in New Mexico, where the tragedy occurred.
Asked about the amount of financial compensation the Hutchins family expects to receive, Parnish said he believes it is “substantial.”
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“A long time marriage, the soul mate that is lost and a child that could be raised without a mother at a young age, is something that will stay forever. There are regulations and guidelines in place today that should prevent something like this from happening. But they must be enforced and if they had been followed this would never have happened,” Parnish replied.
tragic end
This lawsuit is the most recent of the legal processes consigned due to the tragic event.
In November last year, Serge Svetynoylighting director on the low-budget western that Baldwin starred in and produced, sued the actor for negligence.
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The film’s gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, also sued the production’s ammunition supplier in January, accusing him of putting live bullets in prop cartridges.
In addition, a criminal investigation is ongoing, but so far no one has been arrested or charged with criminal charges.
Meanwhile, Baldwin said on several occasions that he had spoken with the family of Halyna Hutchins, who died at the age of 42.
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In December, in an interview with a US broadcaster, he said that when the gun was handed over to him for testing, he was told it was out of ammunition. He explained that he pointed in Hutchins’ direction, following instructions, as they went over how the scene would be filmed.
In the same conversation, he assured that he did not pull the trigger of the revolver, that he barely cocked it.