‘Twilight’ Fire Officer Says He Didn’t Know Children Were on Set

A fire safety officer on the “Twilight Zone” film set testified Monday that he was never told by the film makers that two child actors would be used in the final filming sequence.

Jack Tice, who also frequently works on film sets as a teacher/welfare worker responsible for the safety of child actors, added outside court that if he had known the children were being used, he would have shut down the set immediately.

“I did not know they were there. If I had known they’d been there, they’d be alive today,” Tice told reporters after testifying in the involuntary manslaughter trial of director John Landis and four associates.

Tice said he believes that he was deliberately deceived by the film makers. Several other witnesses in the 50-day-old Los Angeles Superior Court trial have testified that film crew members sought to keep Tice unaware of the children’s presence, fearing that he would close the set if he knew.

‘Inherently Incredible’

Defense attorneys, who declined to cross-examine him, later told reporters that they do not believe that Tice never saw the children, Renee Chen, 6, and Myca Dinh Lee, 7.

“It’s inherently incredible,” Landis’ attorney, James F. Neal, said.

“When you’re in the process of being deceived, you don’t know. You don’t ask, ‘Am I being deceived,’ ” Tice countered.

Renee and Myca were killed along with actor Vic Morrow in a July, 1982, accident during filming of a Vietnam battle scene when a low-flying helicopter, struck by special effects explosions, plummeted from the sky and struck them.

The two youngsters had been hired without the necessary state work permits, which require that children work during daytime hours and that they be accompanied on the film sets by teacher/welfare workers.

Although Tice was not employed in that capacity on the “Twilight Zone” set, he could nonetheless have shut down the production if he had known that the children had been hired without permits.

Watched by Crew

On the night of the accident, Tice testified, a crew member kept tabs on his location, which was out of view of the children. Tice also testified that he was never informed that a special effects mortar had been placed under a wooden structure on the set. Answering a hypothetical prosecution question, Tice testified that it would not be safe to ignite the mortar with a helicopter hovering above.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino said Tice is “a very central key witness.” The prosecutor added that she believes that the defense was “afraid” to cross-examine him.

Neal said Tice’s testimony was inconsequential, because Landis had planned for the helicopter to be well away from the structure when the mortar was ignited. The crash occurred inadvertently, Neal maintained, because the explosive was ignited too quickly.