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A 9-1-1 crew member died in a car crash after working a 14-hour overnight shift on the ABC procedural, TVLine has confirmed.
Rico Priem — who was employed as a grip on the series — passed away early Saturday morning from injuries sustained in a single-person car crash after working late Friday night through Saturday morning. The crew had been shooting on location in Pomona, Calif.
California Highway Patrol tells TVLine that Priem was driving north in his Toyota Highlander on the 57 Freeway at Via Verde Drive in San Dimas when his vehicle left the roadway for unknown reasons, went up an embankment and flipped onto its roof. Priem was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of the crash, which was reported at 4:27 a.m. local time, is still under investigation.
A statement from 20th Television, the studio behind the show, read, “On behalf of the studio and everyone at 9-1-1, we send our sincere and deepest condolences to Rico Priem’s family and friends.”
Update: 9-1-1 front woman Angela Bassett addressed Priem’s passing in an interview at Disney’s annual Upfront event, telling Entertainment Tonight, “The studio, 9-1-1, we all extend our deepest condolences to his friends to his family. It was just a very, very sad moment. We’re all rocked by it, certainly.” Bassett said the cast and crew remembered Priem upon returning to work this week. “We thought it was important to come together and … offer whatever we can do to his family, because we know that we’ll miss him, but we know they will miss him even more.”
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the crew union IATSE Local 80, of which Priem was a member, noted that they are “fully committed to the safety and the well-being of all our members and express our heartfelt condolences to the member’s family. Workers have a reasonable expectation that they can get to work and come home safely. No one should be put in unsafe circumstances while trying to earn a living.”
9-1-1, which has been renewed for Season 8, is currently airing its seventh season on ABC. Seasons 1-6 aired on Fox.
Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear, the show’s ensemble includes Angela Bassett as Athena, Peter Krause as Bobby, Oliver Stark as Buck, Aisha Hinds as Hen, Kenneth Choi as Chimney, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Maddie, Ryan Guzman as Eddie, Corinne Massiah as May and Gavin McHugh as Christopher.
THR was first to report the story.
But was the 14 hour work day the cause? Did someone else cause the crash? Did Rico know he was a long day and he was getting tired but didn’t say anything because he was worried about getting fired (not saying it’s his fault, don’t come for me). So many questions. I’m sure an investigation will take place. Either way, this is extremely sad.
Im with you – the article makes it sound like the reason for the crash was because he worked a 14 hour shift without any proof of that, which I find odd. As someone who has worked on location for over 60+ TV productions over the last 13 years… a 14 hour shift SUCKS but is not unusual (wish it was though) and I’m sure this poor guy has worked much longer shifts so what was different this time? Was there another drunk driver that crashed into him? Did the car malfunction? There could be so many reasons for this crash – so it’s weird to allude to the long shift as the potential cause with no real proof of it. RIP to Rico.
I was doing 3 16 hour shifts and a single 8 every week and I’m thankful I’m still here, but I never drive if tired. I’m curious if this has anything to do with 911 other than him working.
Thank you for clarifying whether this is common. I agree with you and the others in wondering whether there was more to this than we’re hearing.
We can piece together a few things from the article. The accident was reported at 4:27 am. We can estimate a wrap time about 4 AM, which would put call time around 2PM. If he was only given the minimum turnaround from the previous shift, that would put previous wrap time at 6 AM. If he’d worked another long shift, leading up to that, he’d be pretty sleep deprived. With a 6AM to 2 PM turnaround time, maybe he spent that time taking care of other things instead of sleeping.
Like you’ve said, there is a lot of missing information, but condolences to his family. RIP.
The price of a city bus ticket, a Uber, or a cab, will always beat the price of a life, and a funeral.
They wrapped filming in Pamona at 4am, buses aren’t running and wouldn’t have been available at that distance anyhow. The production should have offered hotels or had back up transport ready to bus people home. This is negligence on the producers part through and through, not the deceased.
You sound like an ignorant sociopath, blathering about things you know nothing of. Either learn the details of the case or keep your mouth shut.
A man died because tv is made fast, cheap and recklessly and all you can say is “the man should have caught a bus”. Shame on you. You’re disgusting.
Well, you don’t seem to know for sure what happened either. For all we know (for now) he could have had a medical emergency that had nothing to do with working a 14 hour shift.
He’s reacting to him saying he should have found another source of transportation so you saying it could have been an emergency has nothing to do with he should have caught a bus. Had he had his emergency at a hotel room on being driven he might have survived because his car wouldn’t have flipped over.
I know what he said. Bob Saget had a medical emergency in his hotel room and didn’t survive. Matthew Perry had a medical emergency in his home and didn’t survive. My father had a medical emergency at home and didn’t survive. My point was that medical emergencies can happen any time any where, regardless of where or what someone was doing beforehand and there is no point in blathering on about the evils of the TV industry (and calling people sociopaths and disgusting) until the investigation is completed and the details of the case come to light. No one yet knows the details, not even Burn Itdown.
They are still filming this season?
I’m starting to really question how this season is being managed. The show runner was just talking a few weeks ago about how he still had to write the ending of the season. They’re still filming the last couple episodes. The finale airs in 3 weeks.
This doesn’t make sense to me. Especially in the context that so many other shows (including ones on ABC) wrapped over a month ago. No wonder they’re pulling crazy hours. I can’t even imagine how stressed everyone in post production must be.
Hopefully if this accident was affected by the long hours this man was working (and really, in a single vehicle collision, it was likely at least a contributing factor) meaningful changes will be made
I’m pretty sure you can blame the strike for the rushed schedule.
Every scripted show on US television went through the exact same strike, and yet, as mentioned, a lot of other dramas finished filming a long time ago.
In terms of the wedding episode we know they filmed ~an hour and 15 minutes of material that had to be condensed down to the episode we saw. As much as it’s fun to talk about ‘deleted scenes’, that’s mismanagement.
Writing for broadcast television is a science. Writers know exactly how many pages of script will fit into a 42 minute episode. If the show runner is writing script and shooting scenes for an extra half hour of material that he knows will never see the light of day, that’s mismanaging time and money and putting undue stress on everyone working on the show.
The 9-1-1 series is very enjoyable. I am watching and rewatching all the past seasons…my heart goes out to the Priem family…May PEACE COME TO THIER HEART..GOD BLESS.
Also, usually after those types of shoots production offers you a hotel if you want.
Rip rico condolences to his family
So sorry for your loss 🙏😔 prayers for the family and friends 🙏
Sorry for your loss.
Condolences to the family members and co-workers.May God continue to bless you all in your time of bereavement. We are so sorry to hear about this. But God is still good.
RIP . Prayers going up for the family 🙏🙏🙏🙏
So sorry for his death RIP & sorrows to his family
This is so sad I am praying for his family God rest his soul
Condolences to the Family and Friends of Rico Priem I know his death will leave a hole that can not be readily filled. I ask God to comfort those who knew and loved him. In Jesus name AMEN!
Stop blaming producers it’s not their fault!!!!!
Who know he may been tried and should not been driving !!who knows he may been texting also who knows ! No one does ! Let focus on the loss of a love one the greaving the family is going through . Give your deepest sympathy and respect to the family.
The rest will all be fiqured out !
The Rico Priem’s family and friends.” have my deepest sympathy 🙏 will keep you in my thoughts & prays. Sorry for your lost.😞
My family goes out to the loss of their loved one he was a great actor he will be surely missed I’ll be praying for the family again I’m really sorry for your loss so young to pass away but just know that he’s at peace and he’s in God’s hand I know 911 series is going to be so different without him and I’m going to miss him in the show I pray for all the staff and the actors that has made this series because I know it’s a great loss to them also so all I can do is pray for all the people that’s in the series along with his family and friends and just know that he was a great actor and he will be surely Miss on the series
Sad to hear this. The filming schedule for a tv series (and movie) is insane, and wouldn’t be acceptable in most professions (don’t worry, we can still allow doctors to be sleep deprived when they’re holding lives in their hands). There really is no excuse for it, we just go with it because that’s the way things have always been. I’ve definitely worked on a couple of projects where I worried about everyone driving home, and we’ve all heard about the high profile actors who have run off the side of the road after falling asleep. This needs to be addressed at some point.
How very sad. Hopefully this prompts changes in their shooting schedules going forward. No one should drive so tired that they risk their, or others lives!