Today, Transformers 3 was going to wrap up filming in Chicago with shoots in Millennium Park and the University of Chicago, but today’s filming was likely canceled due to a tragic accident on the set yesterday.
Yesterday, T3 was filming on a closed portion of Cline Avenue in Hammond, Indiana around 7 p.m. when a stunt went wrong leaving one of the film’s extras, Gabriela V. Cedillo, seriously injured.
Reportedly, a cable under tension snapped and went through the windshield of the Toyota Cedillo was driving.
“It snapped. The cable snapped, and the cable went into the westbound lane where we were at and hit the girl’s car, smashed the windshield. From the way it looked, I don’t know if she was knocked out immediately or not but the car, because we were already going at a high rate of speed, the vehicle just went, it just kept going,” a witness said.
The car continued moving for about a mile and crashed into a concrete barrier as it rolled.
Cedillo sustained serious injuries to the head and was airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.
According to My Fox Chicago and Collider.com, today’s shoot was postponed to a later date (though, as of last night, The Chicago Sun Times still had today’s road closures listed on their site).
Seriously? Sounding like an advertisement, and listing the website of a firm that you probably work for after such a tragic story? That is pretty low, ambulance-chasing and patronizing to someone who was critically injured. Films are required to carry massive insurance should something like this happen, and as she was an extra, this also falls under workman’s comp — she’ll get all the appropriate care without a civil suit. As far as responsibility, this was an accident — and accidents happen even when you plan and prep properly for safety. Please leave your sales comments elsewhere and hope that this young woman wasn’t brain-damaged.