The parents of 27-year old Sarah Jones want to know what safety precautions were taken before their daughter was killed near Jesup last month. Jones was working on filming a movie based on Gregg Allman’s life called “Midnight Rider.”
“The family is very emotionally distraught and looking for answers,” said Atlanta attorney Steve Lowery.
His firm, Harris Penn Lowery, is one of two litigators hired to represent Robert and Elizabeth Jones as they try to understand the events leading up to their daughter’s death.
In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Richard Jones said it was his daughter's first day on the job.
“She was excited about working with William Hurt,” he recalled.
But, he said, she was also “a little bit surprised” that the low-budget nature of the shoot.
"She was a little nervous about a few things," Jones told The Hollywood Reporter.
Nonetheless, Sarah and about 20 other crew members were shooting a scene on a trestle over the Altamaha River when a train crossed the bridge, killing her and injuring seven crew members. Hurt, who was on the set at the time, was not injured, according to local news reports.
Did the crew have permission to be on the tracks? Did they post lookouts? Those are some of the questions sources told WSB’s Pete Combs that the family hopes to learn.
One source indicated that the production company had filed a request with CSX Railroads to film on the tracks, but had not yet received a favorable response. In the absence of full schedule information and cooperation from the railroad, the source said, crew members asked workers at a nearby mill how many trains came by. The workers indicated two trains usually passed in the afternoon. Jones and the others were hit by the third train, according to the source.
Sarah Jones is being remembered by film crews all over the world who are posting her name on their slates, the clapboards used to mark the beginning and end of movie and television scenes. There is a Facebook page dedicated to "Slates for Sarah." Some film industries are wearing black ribbons on their lapels in her honor.
In the meantime, filming of the movie "Midnight Rider" has reportedly been suspended indefinitely as state and federal agencies investigate the fatal accident.
