The family of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins slammed authorities for releasing video of her dying on the Western set moments after being shot by Alec Baldwin.
The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office bodycam footage — part of a trove of documents released Monday – shows medics attempting to save the 42-year-old woman after the shooting at the Bonanza Creek Ranch.
Brian Panish, the lawyer representing Hutchins’ husband, Matthew, and their young son, said the video’s release violated their constitutional rights and called on Sheriff Adan Mendoza to retract it, the LA Times reported.
“The first time Mr. Hutchins saw the disturbing and unsettling video footage of his dying wife lying on the church floor was on Radar Online, an internet website,” Panish reportedly said in a letter sent to Mendoza on Wednesday.
“The potential consequences are disturbing given how information is misused on social media. We fear, for example, that this shocking footage of Andros’ mother dying may be material used by bullies to emotionally abuse him in the future,” the lawyer wrote.
“Your office trampled on the constitutional rights of the Hutchins” family, he continued. “The damage your office has done is irreparable.”
Panish said that Mendoza had promised to allow Matthew less than one business day to review the material before releasing it – and that authorities failed to redact personal information.
“Taking down the video will end your office’s complicity in causing further harm,” Panish said in the letter obtained by the LA Times.
Under New Mexico law, victims’ families have the right to review such materials before they are released to the public and to request redactions, he reportedly noted.
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said it was complying with state laws, which require it to make public records available.
A representative of the sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the news outlet.
Video apparently taken moments before Hutchins was shot also shows Baldwin rehearsing a “cross draw” on the set of the doomed flick.
With Hutchins behind the camera, Baldwin is shown sitting in a pew and dressed in 1880s-style Western garb as he rehearses whipping out the F.lli Pietta 45 Long Colt Revolver that went off and left the cinematographer dead and the film’s director Joel Souza injured.
Cops previously said the actor was practicing the move, which required him to point the gun directly at the camera, in the moments leading up to the shooting.
Both Hutchins and Souza were in the line of fire when the revolver went off.
Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas of Quinn Emanuel, has told The Post in a statement that the release of the records proves the actor’s innocence.
“Mr. Baldwin welcomes this investigation. The information that has been revealed by the authorities demonstrates, once again, that Mr. Baldwin acted responsibly and did not have control over any production issues that were identified in the OSHA report,” Nikas said.