Rico Priem, a grip for the Fox procedural, was leaving a Pomona set for the show when the crash occurred.
A crew member on 911 died early Saturday morning in a car accident on the highway following a 14-hour overnight shift.
Rico Priem, a grip for the Fox procedural and a member of the crew union IATSE Local 80, was involved in a car crash after working Friday night through Saturday morning on a location shoot in Pomona, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. IATSE and the show’s studio, 20th Television, confirmed the death in statements on Monday after crew members began posting about the tragedy on social media over the weekend.
“We are fully committed to the safety and the well-being of all our members and express our heartfelt condolences to the member’s family,” IATSE said in its statement. “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.”
Added 20th Television in a statement, “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.”
THR has asked the California Highway Patrol for additional details of the accident.
Fellow grip and IATSE Local 80 member Nina Moskol said in a social media post that she had worked with Priem on Thursday night before the accident and discussed his plans for the future at that time. Priem “was on the cusp of retirement, with his paperwork filed,” Moskol wrote. “He had his already rich life planned for retirement, including spending time with his wife, watching his grand-nephew grow, riding his beloved Harley, and even gripping still to stay connected to his friends. He was so jazzed about what he had learned about retiring, he wanted to teach the ins and outs of retirement at the local.”
Moskol called Priem “a wonderful man, charismatic, vibrant, connected to people on shows everywhere.” She called him a “writer’s dream of a working man.”
In a statement, IATSE international president Matthew Loeb said the union was “shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic loss.” Loeb added, “We are working to support our member’s family, their fellow members and colleagues. Safety in all aspects of the work our members do is our highest priority and we will assist in any investigation in any way that we can.”
Prior to his role on 911, Priem worked an array of major titles, including The Company You Keep, S.W.A.T., Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Star Trek, Christmas With the Kranks and Ghost World.
More to come.