Stunt Woman Who Lost Arm On Resident Evil Set Sues For £2.2 Million

A stunt woman who had to have her arm amputated after an on-set accident is suing the film company for £2.2 million.

Olivia Jackson suffered horrific injuries, including facial scarring, a twisted spine, a dislocated shoulder, punctured lungs, and broken ribs, after a scene she was filming went terribly wrong.

During the filming of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in 2015, Olivia was meant to be appearing in a fight scene. However, due to unexpected rain, the scene was changed and she was told to stand in for lead actor Milla Jovovich in a high speed motorcycle stunt.

The stunt occurred on a stretch of road near a dam in Pelindaba, Pretoria, South Africa. Unfortunately, the shoot went terribly wrong when a camera didn’t move out of the way fast enough. Olivia collided with it as well as the rigging and was thrown from her bike.

The camera was supposed to start filming at ground level, then raise itself up and over Olivia as she sped toward it on the motorbike, but it failed to lift fast enough.

Olivia wasn’t wearing a helmet, and the impact of the crash was so forceful, the 37-year-old stunt woman was left with several broken bones, and part of her left forearm had become detached. She spent 17 days in a coma after the accident, reports the Mail Online.

Three years after the incident, Olivia has now launched a legal fight in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), against the production and stunt company, as well as the camera crane operator, the driver of the vehicle, and the film’s director.

According to legal paperwork, Olivia used to earn £20,000 a month in the UK, and was earning £12,500 a month for her work onResident Evil. She believes she’s become unemployable since her accident, and is reportedly suing for £2.2 million.

Olivia has documented the progress of her recovery on her Instagram page, often sharing pictures of her scars, X-rays and physical therapy.

Captioning a photo of her back after the accident, she wrote:

This is the twisted upper body I’m left with from my accident. Scew spine, off-centered neck (the most painful part), twisted shoulder blade, permanently dislocated shoulder, 1 arm, muscle atrophy on the left hand side of my core & plenty more other treats. [sic]

I don’t mean to moan, but sometimes I just want to crawl out of my own skin & all the pains in it [sic]

In a post showing an X-ray of her spine, she wrote:

Yup that’s a battery pack implanted in my left bum cheek. It powers electric currents to the neuro-pain-transmitter implanted on to my spinal cord (behind my teeth in the X-ray), to help with phantom arm pain. [sic]

Hardest part of my days is to hold my head up (literally & figuratively). Paralysis of the left side of my neck, the skew spine & the fused neck make it really difficult to hold my own head up straight. [sic]

The constant pain is unexplainable. I can’t actually remember what it feels like to be in a normal, pain free body.

It’s so tempting to hate the people that did this to me. I try, rather, to use that energy to focus on getting better and staying positive.

Here’s hoping Olivia’s recovery continues to progress well.