One minute, veteran stuntman Steve de Castro was playing dead during filming of the television series "Shooter" at a remote location north of Los Angeles. The next minute, de Castro was run over and dragged by a sport utility vehicle driven by actor Tom Sizemore. It was no stunt. And it wasn't the only thing not in the script that day. Sizemore wasn't supposed to move the vehicle during filming of the scene. The accident left de Castro with fractures in his wrist and forearm, bone and tissue damage and 100 stitches in his forehead. The stuntman was pinned by the SUV and had to be airlifted from the rural airport where "Shooter" was filming on July 6 of last year. Sizemore attended a safety briefing and rehearsals, where he was instructed to get behind the wheel of the SUV in a shootout scene but not move it. Yet he inexplicably drove off, running over de Castro. Although the SUV was not supposed to be moved, it was left running to allow the air conditioner to work during the filming at a high-desert airport in the Agua Dulce area of northern Los Angeles County. Details about the accident and how Sizemore's actions deviated from shooting plans were included in an investigation file compiled by the workplace safety agency Cal/OSHA. The agency issued no citations over the accident after determining it didn't have jurisdiction because the stuntman was an independent contractor, not a studio employee. Little information on the mishap or de Castro's injuries was revealed after the incident or in subsequent months, in part because the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which has police jurisdiction in the Agua Dulce area, did not open an investigation, saying at the time that it would be handled by occupational safety inspectors. Also, publicity-conscious studios rarely comment when workers are hurt on productions. In October, de Castro sued both Sizemore and Paramount Pictures, which is producing the USA Network series.
