Gwyneth Paltrow’s alleged ski crash victim is said to have seemed “rattled” after their 2016 collision.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s alleged ski crash victim is said to have seemed ‘rattled’ after their 2016 collision
The actress’ trial over the accident has heard testimony from Whitney Smith, the Ski Patrol member who helped Dr Terry Sanderson, 72, off the run after he and ‘Sliding Doors’ actress Gwyneth, 50, ploughed into one another at the Deer Park Resort, Utah.
Whitney – an emergency worker with two years’ experience at the time of the crash – told Park City Court in Utah: “Per my assessment, he seemed alert and oriented.”
She said she arrived at the scene and saw retired army optometrist Dr Sanderson standing on a part of the slope lower down from the collision site with the mountain host who had radioed for her help standing nearby.
Despite saying he seemed shaken up, Ms Smith added he passed her cognitive tests and seemed alert.
She also testified she was not told Dr Sanderson had allegedly lost consciousness in the crash.
The court heard Ms Smith placed him onto a sled and took him to the base of Flagstaff Mountain at the resort for a second medical assessment, and waited with him for two hours while a friend brought his car around to pick him up, and she had no concerns over the possibility he may have been suffering concussion or brain injury-related symptoms such as disorientation or confusion.
Before Ms Smith’s testimony, Gwyneth’s skiing instructor Eric Cristiansen took the stand and denied a claim her son Moses distracted her seconds before the crash, which Dr Terry Sanderson, 76, says left him with permanent brain damage.
Mum-of-two Gwyneth – whose children Apple and Moses were 11 and 9 respectively at the time of the ski accident – had faced an accusation she’d had not been paying attention ahead of the collision as he youngest had yelled to her: “Mommy, Mommy watch me ski.”
Eric said: “I never saw that happen.”
The instructor, who said he was at the scene of the crash within 10-15 seconds, also testified claims he had falsified his report on the crash as Oscar-winner Gwyneth was tipping him were “ridiculous”.
Dr Sanderson has testified Gwyneth let out a “bloodcurdling” scream before she “lost control” and hurtled into him.
The ‘Sliding Doors’ Oscar-winner admitted on the stand she yelled at Dr Sanderson after they collided: “You skied directly into my f****** back!”
She also said she heard the doctor making a “groaning noise” as they crashed into one another that left her thinking she was being assaulted by a “perverted” skier.
Gwyneth added: “He was making some strange noises that sounded male and he was large so I assumed he was a male.
“I was confused at first because it’s a very strange thing to happen on a ski slope. I got very upset a few seconds later.
“There was a body pressing against me and he was making a groaning noise. I didn’t know, is this a practical joke or is someone doing something perverted?”
Gwyneth is countersuing Dr Sanderson, who wants $300,000 in compensation for his apparent brain damage after the collision, and says she wants token damages of $1 plus her legal fees covered.
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