An Open Letter to Alec Baldwin

The trial error that set him free was overshadowed by a different assassins' bullet. He doesn't deserve to get off that easy.

The day before the attempt on former President Trump, a significant court decision was made involving the virtuously opinionated actor Alec Baldwin, who was on trial for Voluntary Manslaughter due to his actions on the set of the film “Rust”. Somehow this story got lost in the shuffle, and now you don’t really hear much about either of those fateful gunshots that were the cause of fervor for a few days. I needed an excuse to start writing again, so here goes nothing.

The Letter

This is an open letter to Alec Baldwin about his charges being dismissed. I’m Andrew Baxter and I go by Drew Breasy on social media. I’m a retired police lieutenant and I now seek and speak the truth for my fellow first responders, particularly law enforcement officers and the humble people of 911 and dispatch who are overworked as much as they are overlooked.

Alec, I saw the wave of emotion come over you as the Judge read her ruling on the Brady violation that allowed you to breathe a deep breath of free air, potentially for the rest of your life. But I know something that the average person may not think about when they see that sense of relief wash over your body. You are still a hostage to what happened that fateful day, and that is the reckoning that you will live with eternally. There is no doubt in my mind that you feel remorse for the victim and her family. No monetary judgment will ever satisfy the loneliness left when Halyna Hutchins was killed by the gun in your hand. Of course if you had a do-over, none of this would be relevant. 

This is where I ask you to take a moment to realize that the heaviness of this tragedy could happen to anyone. Afterall, as an actor, you were “just doing your job”. You didn’t think about the heaviness of taking someone’s life. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said it best in the sentencing of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, “But for you, Ms. Hutchins would be alive. A husband would have his partner, and a little boy would have his mother.”

The heaviness of her death, the protection of your career, your livelihood being in jeopardy, the financial exposure, your family being endlessly harassed, the social media grenades that you and everyone around you are experiencing- all of it, is quite a heavy load, isn't it? All for “just doing your job”.

I want to remind you of a tweet you made back on September 22, 2017. You posted a link to an LA Times article about a man who was shot by police in a 7 Eleven parking lot. This isn’t my attempt at taking a victory lap here, as a man died in that incident also, but you said it to millions of people who follow your Twitter account. So hopefully you did some research into what happened before using that enormous platform of yours. Your exact words in the tweet were, I WONDER HOW IT MUST FEEL TO WRONGFULLY KILL SOMEONE…” (all-caps added). I think it’s too much of a cheap shot to say - welp, now you know. But it doesn’t address the damage you caused with your words in that scenario.

Several bystanders took video of that incident. That’s the norm in police work these days. Several people standing around with their phones on record, watching a literal fight to the death in some cases, but through a five or six inch screen, as opposed to what is just beyond their lens. It’s also the norm in police work to have people automatically assume that the police are at fault, just as you did with your tweet, and by proxy, subjected your millions of followers to that thought. The truth didn’t seem to matter. The likes, retweets, and virtue signals outweighed the complexities of the incident. There was no discussion in your tweet about what led up to the shooting. You didn’t point out that the man that was shot was physically fighting and resisting the uniformed police officer, and that as they hit the ground together, the man (luckily unsuccessfully) tried to take the officer’s gun. It’s a fair assumption that had the man got a hold of the officer’s gun, he would’ve used it on the officer. Ending the life of yet another public servant who risks his life so that yours is safer. Ripping apart another family, making widows or widowers, and forcing children to grow up without their father. That officer who was “just doing his job”.

That officer cleared many legal hurdles and it was determined that the level of force he used was appropriate to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or others. He still has to live with the demons of taking someone’s life, just like you. It’s a consequence of the job of being a law enforcement officer that many in the general public overlook or mischaracterize as somehow something every cop “wants” like it’s an accomplishment. Is it possible that tweets like yours are contributing to that foolish notion? 

Right after the shooting, you went on George Stepahopolous’ show on ABC and complained about George Clooney’s statements regarding your incident. You said, “"There were a lot of people who felt it necessary to contribute some comment (sic) to the situation, which really didn't help the situation — at all." 

So how does that feel? You mean your life was turned upside down, and someone in the  Hollywood elite with a ton of influence and millions of social media followers made careless comments about your case that swayed the public opinion about you and the incident?

Maybe those comments affected your family. Maybe those comments put enough social pressure on the prosecutors, that they decide to put your case in front of a grand jury and now your freedom and liberty is in the hands of a prosecutor who is unnecessarily under pressure to see you in prison blue? All for “just doing your job”?

The three years of sleepless nights and endless meetings with attorneys. The brutal attacks on the people that love you all because of their association with you and because of your actions. Not to mention having to live with the nightmares and trauma of the incident itself. Replaying the scenario over and over in your head while you sit in disbelief of how you got there. The heaviness of taking someone’s life and ripping huge holes among their friends and families. Not knowing what your courtroom fate holds, or whether or not you’ll have to spend the rest of your days in prison, leaving your spouse and children to fend for themselves. All because you were “just doing your job.” Do you see the damage that people of influence who “feel it necessary to contribute some comment (sic) to the situation” can cause?

Enjoy your freedom, Mr. Baldwin. The criminal justice system worked, and you have been absolved of the criminal part of your wrongdoing, if there was any. Someone else is doing time for it anyway, so they got their pound of flesh, right? Maybe you won’t be so quick to comment on horrible personal tragedies next time. Maybe there is more to the story than a casual glance can bring.

Unfortunately for most, but for you Alec, thankfully you no longer have to wonder how it must feel to wrongfully kill someone… all for just doing your job. We should ask guys like Ben Darby, Christopher Schurr, Cody Smith, Matthew Mistretta, Brett Hankison and John Mattingly (who was shot and almost killed but had his good name smeared), or a whole host of cops who were just doing their job.  

If you do know, please tell all of your friends and followers? Because in the police officer’s line of work, there isn’t a prop master to share the blame, and in the typical 7 Eleven parking lot, the director doesn’t yell “CUT!” to try it all again.

I’m Drew Breasy, and I’m entitled to my opinon.