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'Rust' shooting: Alec Baldwin FINALLY surrenders his phone but Internet isn't buying delay

'They just can’t go through your phone and take, you know, your photos or your love letters to your wife or whatever,' Alec Baldwin had said

After waiting for nearly a month, investigators finally have their hands on Alec Baldwin's cellphone, as the actor turned it over to Long Island police on Friday, January 14, 2022. Authorities had secured a warrant for the device in connection with the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie 'Rust'. The 63-year-old 'SNL' star surrendered his phone just a day after police released a report, highlighting Baldwin's failure to do the same. "To date, the cell phone has not been turned over to authorities," police had mentioned in the press release.

His cellphone is believed to contain untold information regarding the tragic death of Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Baldwin after a prop gun misfired. A stray bullet also hit the director of the movie Joel Souza but he survived the hit. It later came to light that the gun was loaded with live rounds, and had reportedly been used by crew members offsite for 'fun'. Various sources claimed that the gun was even fired at off-the-clock gatherings. Recently, 'Rust' armorer Hannah Guiterrez filed a lawsuit against Baldwin after facing the heat for her carelessness with arms and ammunitions. 

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Juan Rios, the public information officer from Suffolk County Sheriff's Office confirmed Baldwin's phone surrender, adding what the police are planning to do with the phone. "They will conduct the extraction of the data and then hand the phone over to us. There will be some exempt information that’s not considered pertinent to the investigation, such as attorney-client privilege material, communications between Mr. Baldwin and his attorney as well as spousal privileged information,” Rios told New York Post.

A week earlier, Baldwin had shared an Instagram video explaining the reason why he was not surrendering his phone. He remarked that he wanted to protect his private communications. “Any suggestion that I am not complying with requests or orders, or search warrants about my phone, that’s bulls—. That’s a lie,” he said in an angry outburst. He further continued, "It’s a process that takes time. They have to specify what exactly they want. They just can’t go through your phone and take, you know, your photos or your love letters to your wife or whatever. But, of course, we are 1,000 percent going to comply with all that. We’re, you know, perfectly fine with that.” As per the warrant, investigators wish to probe texts, photos, emails, videos and browser history of the actor from his phone. 

However, a section of the internet is not convinced with the actor's reasoning, as they claim he needed a month to reset his phone to factory settings. "Once it's been scrubbed and reset to factory settings. What a joke," a Twitter user claimed. 

A Trump-supporting page on Twitter noted, "Alec Baldwin has finally handed his cellphone over to the authorities. Two and a half months later. Wonder if they'll find anything noteworthy." Another user tweeted, "Alec Baldwin FINALLY hands over his cellphone to cops investigating his accidental killing of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins a month after they requested it.. Lots of time to wipe it clean...just saying.."