Posted on 08/17/2022 6:14:13 AM PDT by rktman
The fatal film-set shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin last year was an accident, according to a determination made by New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator following the completion of an autopsy and a review of law enforcement reports.
The medical investigator’s report was made public Monday by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office along with numerous reports from the FBI on the revolver and ammunition that were collected following the shooting.
Prosecutors have not yet decided if any charges will be filed in the case, saying they would review the latest reports and were awaiting cell phone data from Baldwin‘s attorneys.
Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when it went off on Oct. 21, killing Hutchins and wounding the director, Joel Souza. They had been inside a small church during setup for filming a scene.
While it’s too early to say how much weight the medical investigator’s report will carry with the district attorney’s office, Baldwin‘s legal team suggested it was further proof that the shooting was “a tragic accident” and that he should not face criminal charges.
“This is the third time the New Mexico authorities have found that Alec Baldwin had no authority or knowledge of the allegedly unsafe conditions on the set, that he was told by the person in charge of safety on the set that the gun was ‘cold,’ and believed the gun was safe,” attorney Luke Nikas said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The armorer or assistant who handed Baldwin a gun and declared it was unloaded, is clearly negligent as the gun was NOT unloaded. The rehearsal called for aiming the gun at the camera operator.
Somebody was negligent for not having a bullet-resistant ballistic shield protecting the camera operator while a firearm was beign pointed at them, as is standard industry practice. I don't know who was responsible for that detal.
It was negligent for Baldwin not to check for himself that the gun was empty and had no round in the chambers, before aiming the gun at a person. Instead of insuring fiream safety for himself, Baldwin relied solely on the bad judgment of the armoror or assistant who handed him the loaded weapon and told him it was "cold".
There were many unsafe practices that I don't think rise to the level of negligence. They should not have had live ammo on set. They should not have been shooting target practice with live ammo on set. If they were stupidly going to shoot target practice on a movie set, at the very least they should have been using clearly identifiable guns that would never be used in the movie under any circumstances, so an "accident" could not happen. I don't consider any of these poor practices to be "negligent", just stupid. They contributed to the death but did not cause the death.
The negligent practices that caused the lady's death were the armoror or assistant handing a loaded gun to the actor, the actor failing to clear the weapon to insure it was unloaded, and the failure of somebody to have a ballistic shield in place to protect the crew.
In no way, shape, or form was this an "accident" as the very generous Medical Examiner has gifted the rich and popular celebrity actor and the armorer or assistant in their hope to avoid criminal prosecution. An "accident' would be dropping the gun on the ground and it misfiring, or tripping over a stool causing the weapon to fire as you fell to the round, or a broken hammer spur that caused the hammer not to stay back when cocked.
Handing a loaded gun to a person who doesn't bother to check it's loaded before aiming it at someoby and squeezing the trigger is not an accident. It is purely negligence.
Guess we need a job description and his/her/them/they credentials to see if that call is acceptable. Seemed odd to me as well.
We KNOW Alec didnt ‘intend’ to harm anyone, but he completely ignored protocol in handling a deadly weapon which he should have known better as a seasoned actor....
Prison is definitely something he should need.
But they did have a shield.
On the camera.
Not on the people he shot.
Do you find that odd?
Because I find that odd.
“”I’m no Baldwin fan, but this was an accident.””
“But it was also negligent…”
Agree that it’s negligence but the question is WHO was negligent. If standard procedure on a movie set is for an actor to be handed a gun he is assured by an armorer is safe to use, the actor is not negligent if the gun is NOT safe. Personally I think the actor should personally confirm that the gun is safe before using it but that is not currently how things are done in the industry. If the standard procedure was followed in this case then the Armorer or the person who assured the actor the gun was safe should be charged.
How convenient, if this was a republican he'd be in jail and the key would be long gone.
Baldwin should be charged with manslaughter or crminally negligent homicide, but he’s a democRAT, let’s see what happens.
My take, FWIW: Someone handed Baldwin a loaded gun, Baldwin aimed the gun at another human being and pulled the trigger. The gun went off. The bullet struck the other human, killing them.
To me the primary guilty person is the armorer for having and using live ammo on the set. Baldwin is secondarily guilty for not checking the loaded gun before aiming it and pulling the trigger.
OK...but.... I’ll give you the ballistic shield. That should be on Baldwin as a producer. The live ammo should not have been present. I guess that’s on the armorer. That said, the industry uses blanks, and dummy rounds that look like live ammo. The armorer and assistant director clearing the weapon for the actor is to streamline the production process. Take Baldwin out of it. Suppose you were handing a gun to Andy Dick, or a child actor, or some bimbo that can barely work a doorknob. Should they be expected to know a dummy round from a blank from a live round?
Nope ....
“Alec Baldwin’s cellphone records related to the fatal shooting on the set of his ill-fated film “Rust” are expected to be transferred to authorities in New Mexico this week.
Once investigators with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office review those records, they will be able to complete their investigation into the October 2021 death of 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.”
https://nypost.com/2022/08/17/alec-baldwins-rust-phone-records-to-be-sent-to-new-mexico/
I realize that most actors’ values are the opposite of mine, and I will still watch them in their movies. But Baldwin just like DeNiro I refuse to watch any of THEIR movies, these guys have been so over the top militant about their opinion. Same for Sarandon.
must be nice ..
Sounds more like negligence to me.🙄
The armorer was certainly negligent. Baldwin, too, to a certain extent as he should have checked the weapon.
That said, it’s not standard procedure on film sets to train actors in proper gun safety. The focus is all about making the scene — no matter how improbable the scene is.
Most actors are ignorant of gun safety. This is obvious with their ridiculous statements regarding guns. But it should be a requirement on gun sets that all actors and crew should undergo firearm safety training. SAG, DGA, and IATSE (the unions) should insist on it…
It is OK if they can’t recognize a dummy round. All they need to know is there is a round in the chamber, and then go get the armorer and ask why that is and if it is explicitly OK. Wat you don’t do is just assume it is OK. Everybody on set should have been required to have basic firearms training as a condition of working around guns. Every single person.
I already said there should not have been any live ammo on the set.
The armorer’s job is to streamline things so that the actors and director can focus on the task at hand. Anyone holding things up for questions is gonna get dragged.
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