‘Twilight’ Trial Told of Fireman’s Fears

Defense attorneys in the “Twilight Zone” manslaughter trial charged Monday that the Los Angeles County Fire Department covered up the fact that a firefighter on the film set had feared that a subsequently fatal scene would prove dangerous.

The firefighter, Richard Ebentheuer, testified before the jury that despite his fears, he and other fire safety officers on the scene did not warn the film makers. The information was not contained in either of two department reports compiled on the 1982 filming accident in which three actors were struck and killed by a helicopter that crashed.

While the prosecution contended that the information is irrelevant to the manslaughter charges against director John Landis and four associates, defense attorney Leonard Levine complained outside of court: “Our clients are being prosecuted even though they honestly believed it was safe. But the firemen, of course, are not being prosecuted and one of them said they knew the helicopter was going to crash.”