Oscar-Winning 'Crash' Director Arrested on Sexual Assault Charges
by EG
Paul Haggis, who won an Oscar for directing Crash 2004 and wrote the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby, was arrested this week in Italy on charges that he sexually assaulted a young woman. Haggis's lwayer denies that Haggis is guilty of the allegations. The director was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2013, and other women have since come forward and made accusations against him as well. Read on for details.
Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis (Crash) was detained Sunday in the southern Italian town of Ostuni on charges of sexual assault and aggravated personal injury, according to multiple reports in the Italian media and a statement by the public prosecutors of the nearby city of Brindisi.
A young woman, identified only as being “foreign” but not Italian, has pressed charges against Haggis, accusing the two-time Oscar winner of forcing her to engage in sexual intercourse over the course of two days in Ostuni, where Haggis was scheduled to hold a series of master classes at the Allora Fest — a new film festival launched by L.A.-based Italian journalist Silvia Bizio and Spanish art critic Sol Costales Doulton — that is set to run June 21-26.
The woman was taken to the Papola Casale airport in Brindisi on Sunday morning and left there despite her “precarious physical and psychological conditions,” according to an Italian police report. She was then aided by airport staff and police officers and taken to the hospital. She subsequently filed formal charges.
Prosecutors also were quoted as saying that the woman “formalized her complaint and cited circumstances which were subsequently looked into for confirmation by investigators.” They didn’t cite her nationality or age. Haggis’ attorney Priya Chaudhry noted that she can’t discuss the evidence, under Italian law. “That said, I am confident that all allegations will be dismissed against Mr. Haggis. He is totally innocent and willing to fully cooperate with the authorities so the truth comes out quickly,” she added in a statement.
In 2018, the publicist Haleigh Breest sued Haggis, who wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay to Million Dollar Baby and wrote and directed Oscar best picture winner Crash, alleging he had violently raped her in her New York apartment after a premiere in 2013. In the wake of her allegations, three more women came forward with separate sexual misconduct allegations against Haggis, who has denied all the claims.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.