Cedillo Underwent Brain Surgery, In Stable Condition

A little bit more information has come out about Gabriella Cedillo's condition after a serious head injury from an incident on the Transformers 3 set in Indiana. According to E Online and Chicago Sun-Times, she had to undergo brain surgery on Thursday afternoon. She did pull through the procedure and is now listed in stable condition. Now that it seems she may recover from the accident, the news reports are starting in on the innuendo of negligence (actually surprised it took this long).

An example of this is the news report from ABC Chicago which used careful phrasing and creative editing to suggest that this incident occurred at the same time that a stunt involving flipping cars was being filmed. They even went so far as to show footage from the parking deck stunt in Chicago where cars were sent off the top level to suggest she was near a similar stunt. After all a car being thrown off a three story building is exactly the same as a car being towed down a flat freeway. Also note the silly additional information which had nothing to do with the story except enforce the picture of a set that misused its extras by pointing out Cedillo was paid "minimum wage and only $25 for the use of their personal cars" and how confidentially wavers do not contain anything about "an extra's own personal safety."

At this time all we really know was she was driving her car for a scene, something went through the windshield (possibly a ripped cable from a towing rig) and hit her with enough force that it resulted in severe enough injuries that she lost consciousness, had to be airlifted to Loyola Hospital and needed brain surgery. Everything else from that report is basically unproved suggestive nonsense that is starting the groundwork that extreme negligence occurred with mistreated extras and a secretive studio that is withholding information even though authorities are still investigating what happened.

A report light on facts, heavy on rumor told as facts is now the norm for television "reporting". It is reports like these, where they can't take something as simple as an update on a person's medical condition without adding a sensational spin, which explains why I at least don't pay attention to television news anymore.

Speaking of "reporting" Deadline has written up their version that uses careful phrasing to say that Transformers 3 set completely screwed up.

I received this email from a confidential informant:"An extra doing stunts in her own car with a tow rig? Holy shit is somebody's head gonna roll over this one. SO many things against industry standards, don't know where to start! Bay should be starting to sweat right about now. 30yrs of motion pictures and never seen stunts fuck up this bad."

Did negligence occur? Was Cedillo involved in a stunt or a sequence she should not have been? I don't know. There is a lot we don't know. Neither do any of these news sources. Right now all we know is this woman was injured. Hopefully very soon Gabriela Cedillo will make a complete recovery and we will learn the actual facts of events and be able to draw our own conclusions instead of the ones the press is gearing up to force on us. Thanks to YoboY and eatm0rewaffles for links.