Unscripted Movie Set Car Crash

[Kookas]

Don't know if it's already been posted or not, but I didn't see it, so here goes.

Basically, as they were filming a car chase scene in Transformers 3 in Washington D.C., the police received a bomb threat call. The road that had been closed off for the filming happened to be the quickest route to the call, and as terrorism is a big issue, especially in America (and in the head of government too), they needed to take the shortest route. Thus, you get a bomb squad officer speeding through the set of a car chase scene in Transformers 3. The outcome is not good.

[Unit 42]

Lol, look both ways bumblebee!

[SirMoo]

Lol, look both ways bumblebee!

This made be giggle a bit.

None-the-less that's a bit fail on the part of the cop. Why would you drive through an active filming set anyway? there is the fact that he could be sued for time, damages, and film wasted because of him...

[hunter42]

That video made my day.

None-the-less that's a bit fail on the part of the cop. Why would you drive through an active filming set anyway? there is the fact that he could be sued for time, damages, and film wasted because of him...

The police blocking the streets had a different radio frequencies, so they couldn't tell the SUV driver, and he probably just saw the police and assumed they were cordoning off the area because of the bomb threat.

[Xplorer4x4]

he probably just saw the police and assumed they were cordoning off the area because of the bomb threat.

That might be possible, but it depends on the location of the area blocked off vs the area where the bomb was.

[SirMoo]

I would assume that when a city is doing filming, the police are alerted of which areas before the shift. It's almost like setting up a no-fly zone and not alerting the ATC to it...

[Newfoundking]

Or filimg a scene with guns and a police chase, and alerting the city that there will be fake guns and a fake police chase here at this time. Don't call 911..

In the end, it's the cop's fault. Either the driver of the SUV or the ones on the road block for not stopping the movie. They were responsible and they failed.

[firetruck449]

dang....bumblebee didn't transform in time

[Dakota]

It's not the cops fault at all! Sure he was in a closed off street but he's a police officer on duty responding to a call... I believe the Police take priority over a film crew, at least here in the United States they do.

As a firefighter, we have streets closed all the time, but that does not mean we do not still use those roads to get places when responding to 911 calls. I can almost guarantee that cop knew there was filming going on, and was proceeding through anyway.

The officers closing the street are most likely auxiliary patrol or just working an extra shift, while the SUV guy is a K9 handler and the dog may or may not be trained to sniff out explosives.

To say that he'd be sued for that is stupid. One, the company would never sue the city in which they are filming due to the threat of having their permits pulled. And two, the police officer was operating with due regard while responding to a 911 call so he does have some immunity seeing as how the stunt driver peeled out making a left hand turn and into him with no warning.

[Xplorer4x4]

It's not the cops fault at all! Sure he was in a closed off street but he's a police officer on duty responding to a call... I believe the Police take priority over a film crew, at least here in the United States they do.

And two, the police officer was operating with due regard while responding to a 911 call so he does have some immunity seeing as how the stunt driver peeled out making a left hand turn and into him with no warning.

No one said it doesnt take priority, but I dont know if I would say he was using due regard. He just saw a Semi and two big ass trucks come through the intersection in an area that was being used to film stunts. Obviously there was little to no time to shut down production seeing as Optimus Prime had come around the corner seconds before. Also, if emergency personnel are approaching the intersection when they have a red light, isn't it the responding units duty to yield until he deems it safe to proceed? From the looks of it, the officer had a red light and did not yield even though with the massive crowds around, he likley would not have had a clear enough view to watch for oncoming traffic. What if that crash had been the deciding factor in a life or death situation? Cutting through a closed road for a movie set is a bit more unpredictable then cutting through a road closed for say road construction, a water main break, or any other condition which a road may normally be closed for.

[marko123]

LOL COULDN'T BUMBLEBEE HERE THE SIRENS

[Newfoundking]

Yeah, but more than likely, he was assuming they belonged to the set. That's the thing... Also, when I'm driving, and I am going from slow to fast, which he was more than likely doing, my engine is revving and gets very loud, and I don't hear sirens until it's on top of me or I have windows down.

[marko123]

Yeah, but more than likely, he was assuming they belonged to the set. That's the thing... Also, when I'm driving, and I am going from slow to fast, which he was more than likely doing, my engine is revving and gets very loud, and I don't hear sirens until it's on top of me or I have windows down.

A Movie VS A Bomb Treat..... Well It Wasn't Anyones Fault But Seriously, The Movie Supervisor COULDN'T ALERT BUMBLEBEE STUNT DRIVER!?

[Newfoundking]

The movie supervisor probably had these thoughts.

Hey, what's that? He ours... He's not ours.. Dammit, someone tell him now, stop the production. STOP. Oh... damn, there goes bumblebee.

[Ami89E1234]

GAH Why Do People Capitalize The First Letter Of Every Word? It Is Annoying, Hard To Read, Not Useful, Not Proper Grammar, And Is Not Found In Real Life.

[wasim12]

LMAO @ Ami. Yea, but it was definetely some more hype about the production of Tranformers 3.

[Shadylasse]

This is why Chuck Norris should get back in business....

[C.F.D]

The officer was not aware about the set. He was on a different frequency line, and this set was just made as soon the officer received the call. Beside, If i was the officer approaching that street, the street was empty, but as soon he arrived closer to the intersection, thats when the cars started to make their turn, so it was a last minute accident.

I strong believe the officer was just doing his job, and had if he was on the other frequency, he could chose an alternative route.

[marko123]

DANG! IT IS FREAKING HARD TO DENT A POLICE CAR!

[Xplorer4x4]

LOL COULDN'T BUMBLEBEE HERE THE SIRENS

Well it was a closed set and for all he knew the siren could have been coming from some where else..not with holding engine noise like NFK said.

A Movie VS A Bomb Treat..... Well It Wasn't Anyones Fault But Seriously, The Movie Supervisor COULDN'T ALERT BUMBLEBEE STUNT DRIVER!?

Well lets see the director probably had mere seconds to react.

GAH Why Do People Capitalize The First Letter Of Every Word? It Is Annoying, Hard To Read, Not Useful, Not Proper Grammar, And Is Not Found In Real Life.

QFT.

The officer was not aware about the set. He was on a different frequency line, and this set was just made as soon the officer received the call. Beside, If i was the officer approaching that street, the street was empty, but as soon he arrived closer to the intersection, thats when the cars started to make their turn, so it was a last minute accident.

I strong believe the officer was just doing his job, and had if he was on the other frequency, he could chose an alternative route.

The set was just made? I doubt that. It would have taken them awhile to get all the trailers unloaded, the cameras in place and be filming a shot. I would think that would take 30 minuets to an hour and thats a conservative guess. Secondly, assuming the officer reported for roll call that morning, surely he would have known, and I am sure the officers already knew it was going to happen days in advance. Not to mention seeing a Semi come around there was about 3 big ass vehicles coming at him just seconds before would probably be a good indication to watch out.

DANG! IT IS FREAKING HARD TO DENT A POLICE CAR!

It's an SUV, there built strong..and seriously lay off the caps.

[Newfoundking]

The set was just made? I doubt that. It would have taken them awhile to get all the trailers unloaded, the cameras in place and be filming a shot. I would think that would take 30 minuets to an hour and thats a conservative guess. Secondly, assuming the officer reported for roll call that morning, surely he would have known, and I am sure the officers already knew it was going to happen days in advance. Not to mention seeing a Semi come around there was about 3 big ass vehicles coming at him just seconds before would probably be a good indication to watch out.

It's an SUV, there built strong..and seriously lay off the caps.

First quoted paragraph:

They did a shoot here where they jsut had trucks on the side of the road, and closed an alley, there was a week's notice on the radio, and the night before it was on local news, and on every radio station all day until it was over. Police were probably on scene to point out the closed road. Regarding everything, no matter what excuse they come up with, police were at fault, since they shouldn't have entered during a shoot. That officer probably wasn't thinking or something, either way, he paid the price

Second Paragraph:

A car versus a larger vehicle, the car almost always loses.. A simple rear ender I saw a few days ago resulted in a car being wrote off and the pickup suffered no damage after it was struck.. well his trailer hitch had a scratch.

And yes, lay off the caps. Now.

[SirMoo]

To say that he'd be sued for that is stupid. One, the company would never sue the city in which they are filming due to the threat of having their permits pulled. And two, the police officer was operating with due regard while responding to a 911 call so he does have some immunity seeing as how the stunt driver peeled out making a left hand turn and into him with no warning.

Now it would very much depend on the situation, however... I would most certainly sue the city.

First off, it's a breech of contact. The film crew has a contract for that road.

Second, if the city revoked their license that would be a secondary breech of contract.

Third, immunity? There is no immunity. He disrupted a set and cost them tens of thousands of dollars. Assuming they were not using 100% digital film, thats a MASSIVE cost. One filming crew charges it's actors what... 100 dollars if their cell phone rings simply to cover the costs of film.

Regardless if the bomb was real or not, the cop is by fault and thus the city would take care of it. So... If the city does pull the permit they'll pay money... if they get sued... they'll pay money. But I can't find any legal files on it at the moment so I doubt the film crew decided to do anything about it... or it was something done in private to make things simple.

[Newfoundking]

If an emergency vehicle hits something when it's running sirens and lights, then 99% of the time, it'll be their fault. They take on right of way, but also accept a load of responsiblity with that. As you can see, aside from the SUV, there is a marked MPD crusier with flashing lights off set, so clearly the police were already there, and the MPD will be at fault..

Apparently the crash will be written into the movie though

[erfd]

Maybe he expected the yellow car to come from where all the other cars came from.

[Dakota]

No one said it doesnt take priority, but I dont know if I would say he was using due regard. He just saw a Semi and two big ass trucks come through the intersection in an area that was being used to film stunts. Obviously there was little to no time to shut down production seeing as Optimus Prime had come around the corner seconds before. Also, if emergency personnel are approaching the intersection when they have a red light, isn't it the responding units duty to yield until he deems it safe to proceed? From the looks of it, the officer had a red light and did not yield even though with the massive crowds around, he likley would not have had a clear enough view to watch for oncoming traffic. What if that crash had been the deciding factor in a life or death situation? Cutting through a closed road for a movie set is a bit more unpredictable then cutting through a road closed for say road construction, a water main break, or any other condition which a road may normally be closed for.

Actually, laws with red lights are varried across the U.S.

In Ohio, you do not have to stop at all for red lights or stop signs. However, most SOGs state you should yield for insurance purposes.