Crew member killed by train during filming of Gregg Allman biopic 'Midnight ...
WAYNE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICELocal authorities in Jesup, Ga., are investigating a horrific train accident that turned the first day of filming on the Gregg Altman biopic 'Midnight Rider' into a grisly scene out of a horror movie.
One crew member was killed and seven others injured after a freight train rumbled over a train trestle where a dream sequence on was being filmed on the tracks on the first day of production, Variety first reported.
Police identified Sarah Elizabeth Jones, 27, a second camera assistant, as the woman who was struck and killed by the train Wayne County Sherriff's Department.
'She commanded such respect with her work ethic, but she was still always the light in the room,,' says Gavin McCulley, a military consultant on television shows who met Jones in 2008 on 'Army Wives' and struck up a friendship with the Atlanta native. 'It could be pouring rain and she'd be standing there with a smile on her face.'
'I am just devastated.'
The tragedy occurred at approximately 4:00 p.m., police said, when the crew, led by director Randall Miller, had permission from the CSX Railway Company to film in the area. The crew moved on to the track to film after two scheduled trains passed through the area.
Jones and the other crew members from the Atlanta-based Meddin Studios were scrambling for safety after a third train blew its whistle giving them seconds to react, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Miller himself fell on the tracks, but was pulled to safety by a photographer, a witness told Variety.
Several of the injuries were apparently caused when the train slammed into a mattress being used in the dream sequence, spraying debris like shrapnel.
'All of us on the production team are devastated by the tragic accident that happened today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of our crewmember,' a spokesperson for Midnight Rider Productions said in a statement.
Based on Allman's 2013 autobiography, 'Midnight Rider' stars William Hurt, Eliza Dushku and Zoey Deutch.
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