Rust crew member sues Alec Baldwin and set armorer for ‘severe emotional distress’ over shooting

Fatal scene did not require Baldwin to pull trigger, lawsuit claims

A Rust crew member who held dying Halyna Hutchins in his arms has sued Alec Baldwin, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director Dave Halls for “severe emotional distress” over the fatal shooting.

Head electrician Serge Svetnoy alleges in the lawsuit that the scene in which Ms Hutchins was killed “did not call” for Mr Baldwin to fire the weapon, which he had been told was “cold”.

Mr Baldwin is sued in both his capacity as an actor and a producer of the western movie, which has been shut down as investigations into the death continues.

Mr Svetnoy claims in the court papers that the bullet that killed Ms Hutchins, and also struck director Joel Souza, almost hit him as well, according to TMZ.com.

He states that he is suing Mr Baldwin because the star “owed a duty to the Plaintiff and other crew members and actors on the Rust set to handle the Colt Revolver provided to him by Defendant Halls with reasonable care and diligence for the safety of Rust cast and crew.”

“This duty called for Defendant Baldwin to double-check the Colt Revolver with Halls upon being handled to ensure that it did not contain live ammunition,” court papers state.

The lawsuit also claims that the fatal scene did not require Mr Baldwin to pull the gun’s trigger, with the script instructing him to draw the weapon and point it in the general direction of the camera.

But “the scene did not call for Defendant Baldwin to shoot the Colt Revolver,” the lawsuit stated.

Mr Svetnoy also claims that Mr Baldwin was negligent as a producer of the movie.

“They attempted to save money by hiring an insufficient number of crew members to safely handle the props and firearms,” the lawsuit states.

Mr Svetnoy is asking for a jury trial and damages, according to TMZ.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Rust set saw other examples of violations of “industry norms, declining requests for weapons training days, failing to allow proper time to allow for gunfire, failing to send out safety bulletins and spreading the staff too thin”.

A lawyer for Mr Halls has said that the assistant director was “not responsible” for checking the firearm on set.

Earlier this week Baldwin said that he wanted production companies to hire police officers to ensure the safety of guns being used on movie and television sets.

“Every film/TV set that uses guns, fake or otherwise, should have a police officer on set, hired by the production, to specifically monitor weapons safety,” Mr Baldwin tweeted.

Actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has already announced that real guns will no longer be used on sets for projects he is involved with.