Jimmy Smits Stabs Stuntman on Dexter Set

A stuntman is incredibly lucky to be alive after a TV stunt went terribly wrong. According to Contact Music, actor Jimmy Smits accidentally grabbed a real knife instead of a prop knife and stabbed stuntman Jeff Chase with it on the set of Dexter. Fortunately for the stuntman, he was wearing a piece of acrylic clear plastic over his heart, and Smits hit him at the edge of that plastic piece and the stuntman was unscathed.

"For the scene, I was bound in Saran Wrap, duct tape over my mouth," Chase said. "I couldn't say a thing as I saw Jimmy grab at the knife. He picked up the real one by pure mistake. It was a mean looking knife."

Chase also said that Dexter star Michael C. Hall was, "yelling at Jimmy to stop, but it was too late." He said that instead of wearing a metal breast plate in the scene, he wore, "a piece of acrylic clear plastic about the size of a Post-it note over my heart. It was a quarter of an inch thick and not attacked. In eight out of 10 takes with the prop knife, Jimmy had missed the plastic. But by a miracle, an act of God, the knife landed at the very edge of the plastic."

The stuntman added that Smits, "could not stop apologizing," but Chase told the actor, "I felt more sorry for him than me."