Jimmy Smits Nearly Killed a Stunt Man

Jimmy Smits stabbed a stuntman for real on the set of Dexter. Smits grabbed a real knife instead of a prop knife during shooting, and plunged it into stuntman Jeff Chase.

Chase was only saved by a piece of plastic placed over his heart, which Smits miraculously hit. Chase said:

"For the scene, I was bound in Saran Wrap, duct tape over my mouth. I couldn’t say a thing as I saw Jimmy grab at the knife. He picked up the real one by pure mistake. It was a mean looking knife."

"I heard fellow actor Michael C. Hall yelling at Jimmy to stop, but it was too late. I felt the thud in my chest. I didn’t have on a metal breast plate like a lot of actors do in a scene like that."

"Instead I had a piece of acrylic clear plastic about the size of a Post-it note over my heart. It was a quarter of an inch thick and not attacked. In eight out of 10 takes with the prop knife, Jimmy had missed the plastic. But by a miracle, an act of God, the knife landed at the very edge of the plastic."

"I really thought I’d been stabbed in the heart, but I didn’t have a scratch. Jimmy was devastated and couldn’t stop apologizing. I told him, I felt more sorry for him than me."

Amazingly lucky. Wear the metal breast plate next time. Luck is no substitute for safety.

Why was there a real knife near the fake knife?