Alec Baldwin, the actor whose prop gun misfire killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the sets of the film Rust in October 2021, has turned in his cell phone to investigators, according to a BBC report.
Santa Fe’s Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the actor had turned over his device to authorities near his home in New York.
Baldwin’s step follows the police’s statement earlier in the week that he was not co-operating with the investigation.
A New York Post report, headlined Why Experts Say Alec Baldwin Hasn’t Handed Over His Phone, provided theories around Baldwin’s non-compliance with the search warrant that required him to give his phone to the police to gather data like text messages and voicemails.
In response, Baldwin released a video on Instagram rubbishing the claims of his non-compliance. “This is a process where one state makes the request of another state. Someone from another state can’t come to you and say, ‘Give me your phone. Give me this, give me that.’ They can’t do that. They’re going to go through the state you live in. And it’s a process that takes time,” he said.
“They have to specify what exactly they want. [They] can’t just go through your phone and take your photos, your love letters to your wife or what have you. I really don’t know but of course we are 1,000% going to comply with all that. We’re perfectly fine with that,” he added.
It is to be noted that while the incident took place in the state of New Mexico, Baldwin is a resident of New York state.
Baldwin’s lawyer, Aaron Dyer, maintained that nothing would come of confiscating the cell phone, but added that the actor had voluntarily handed it over.
The prop gun misfire occurred in October when Baldwin was rehearsing with the firearm on the film’s set. Apart from killing Hutchins, the incident also left director Joel Souza injured.
Since then, Baldwin, assistant director Dave Halls, and armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed have been under investigation. Halls was the one who had declared the prop a “cold gun” – production jargon for a weapon with no live rounds. Both Halls and Reed later admitted that neither had checked the gun before handing it over to the next concerned person.
Two lawsuits have been filed against Baldwin so far for negligence and unlawful conduct.
Recommended
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Reed sued Seth Kenney, who supplied the guns for the film, for mixing up live ammunition with dummy rounds and thus causing the misfire. In an earlier affidavit, Kenney had suggested that confusion between the two could have led to the incident. However, he had later contradicted himself and asserted that the live rounds did not come from him.
Reed’s father and veteran armorer, Thell Reed, earlier told investigators that Kenney had requested him to bring additional live ammunition for another film they were working on.
According to Sante Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza, among the evidence collected were 500 rounds of ammunition as well the antique Colt .45 revolver that Baldwin shot. The sheriff had also noted that the police suspected there were other live rounds, aside from the one that killed Hutchins, found on set.