Family of Dead Marine Sues Alec Baldwin for $25 Million

Actor Alec Baldwin is being sued for defamation and negligence by the family of a dead Marine, following comments made about the presence of a member of the soldier’s family outside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, according to an open lawsuit. on Monday in Wyoming District Court in the United States.

The sisters and widow of Marine Rylee J. McCollum, who died on August 26, 2021, during a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, are asking for $25 million plus attorney fees, after suffer severe distress over Baldwin’s comments, according to the court filing.

After McCollum’s death, a GoFundMe account was opened for widow Jiennah McCollum “and her soon-to-be daughter,” the lawsuit says. Baldwin heard about the GoFundMe account and sent a check for $5,000 to the Marine’s sister Roice McCollum for Jiennah and her daughter as what he called ” a tribute to a dead soldier,” according to the lawsuit.

On January 3, Roice “posted a photo of a crowd of protesters at the Washington Monument on his Instagram page in anticipation of January 6, 2022, the one-year anniversary of his participation in the Washington, D.C. rally,” the statement reads. process.

On January 6, 2021, hundreds of supporters of then-President Donald Trump gathered outside the Capitol to protest against Congress, which was certifying the results of the 2020 election.

Many protesters pushed through barricades and police to enter the building, storming some of the holiest chambers of American democracy and unleashing waves of violence and division across the country. The aftermath of that day continues to reverberate to this day.

When Baldwin saw Roice’s post about the one-year anniversary, he started messaging her on Instagram, according to the lawsuit.

“When I sent the money to your late brother, out of true respect for your service to this country, I didn’t know you were one of the January 6 troublemakers,” Baldwin said, according to the lawsuit.

Roice “has never been arrested, arrested, charged or convicted of any crime associated with her participation in the January 6, 2021 event in Washington, D.C.,” the lawsuit reads.

According to the lawsuit, she responded to Baldwin that: “Protesting is perfectly legal in the country and I’ve been with the FBI. Thank you, have a good day!”

According to the document, Baldwin replied: “I don’t think so. Their activities resulted in the illegal destruction of government property, the death of a police officer, an attack on the certification of the presidential election. I reposted your photo. Good luck”.

A CNN contacted Baldwin’s attorney for comment on this.

Approximately 20 minutes after Baldwin posted Roice’s “Instagram feed,” she “began to receive hostile, aggressive and hateful messages from Baldwin’s followers,” the lawsuit alleges.

Baldwin’s Instagram post, which he later deleted, read: “Many Trumpists showing up here with the current cry that the attack on the Capitol was a protest, (a more peaceful form that arrested many other protesters) and an exercise. of democracy. This is bullshit.”

His post went on to say, “I did some research. I found out on IG that this woman [Roice McCollum] is the sister of one of the men who was killed” in Kabul, Afghanistan.

“I offered to send your sister-in-law [Jiennah McCollum] some $ as a tribute to his late brother, his widow and his son. And that’s what I did. Like a tribute to a dead soldier. So I find this. Truth is stranger than fiction,” he added in the post.

The lawsuit says that Baldwin “understood unequivocally that reposting Roice’s Instagram feed to his network of 2.4 million like-minded followers and posting his comment would result in threats and hateful attacks as it did.”

Hours after Baldwin’s post, the soldier’s other sister, Cheyenne, and widow, Jiennah, began receiving “hate messages and even death threats,” the lawsuit says.

“Neither Cheyenne nor Jiennah” were in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, the lawsuit adds.

Jiennah received a message on Thursday calling her a “racist,” said one of the family’s lawyers, Dennis Postiglione. Jiennah is black, Postiglione said over the phone.

“I gratefully supported the GoFundMe campaign while simultaneously not knowing that the woman I approached is an insurrectionist. I find that…remarkable,” Baldwin said, according to the lawsuit.

The suit says Baldwin is “very aware” of the weight of his fame and notoriety. The family is seeking a jury trial, according to the lawsuit. In addition to negligence and defamation, they are also suing Baldwin for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“[In]regardless of a person’s politics, what Baldwin did here should never be allowed. He is one of the most well-known people in the country and has a social media following five times the population of the State of Wyoming. He willingly abused that platform and put the McCollums through hell at a time when they were just beginning to deal with Rylee’s death,” Postiglione said in a press release.

This isn’t the only legal battle Baldwin is involved in.

Last month, the actor handed over his cell phone to police as part of an investigation into the shooting that killed Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie “Rust.” He is also being sued by team member Serge Svetnoy for negligence.

Baldwin had previously said that he would “never point a gun at anyone and then pull the trigger” during an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in December. According to court documents, Baldwin said he believed the gun had no live ammunition. His attorney said Baldwin is cooperating with authorities in the investigation of the fatal shooting.