By Ebi Kesiena
The head electrician on the film set where Alec Baldwin accidentally shot dead Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins last month, is suing the actor and other crew members over the incident.
Serge Svetnoy, a friend of Hutchins, is alleging negligence that resulted in “severe emotional distress”. He says the bullet narrowly missed him.
The authorities are still investigating the October 21 incident in New Mexico.
No criminal charges have been brought against anyone.
Assistant Director Dave Halls has told investigators he failed to check all the rounds in the gun before handing it over to Mr Baldwin, according to a court document.
Mr Halls reportedly called out “cold gun” as he gave it to the actor, meaning he believed it to be safe.
A film Director was also injured in the shooting on the set of the Western film Rust.
Mr Svetnoy’s civil lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles. It names nearly two dozen defendants.
During a news conference on Wednesday, Mr Svetnoy, 63, said he had seen guns sitting unattended in the dirt a few days before the fatal shooting, adding that he had warned the people responsible for them.
His lawsuit alleges that on the day of the shooting he “felt a strange and terrifying whoosh of what felt like pressurised air”, when the gun went off. He was struck by “discharge materials from the blast”.
At the news conference, Mr Svetnoy said he had kneelt down to try to help Ms Hutchins.
Neither Mr Baldwin nor other defendants named in the lawsuit have so far publicly commented on the latest developments.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for the film’s armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for the guns and ammunition on set, issued a statement on Wednesday reiterating that she did not know how a live round came to be there.
“We are asking for a full and complete investigation of all of the facts, including the live rounds themselves, how they ended up in the ‘dummies’ box, and who put them in there,” attorney Jason Bowles said.
“We are convinced that this was sabotage and Hannah is being framed. We believe that the scene was tampered with as well before the police arrived.”
However, in an interview on Wednesday, Santa Fe county district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said investigators “do not have any proof” of sabotage.
Asked on ABC TV’s Good Morning America whether she thought it was a possibility, she replied: “No.”
The question of how live rounds got on set “will be one of the most important factors” when deciding whether to bring charges, she added.
