On Wednesday, two days before production on the CW TV series Batwoman was shut down over coronavirus concerns, a production assistant named Amanda Smith suffered an accident on the set that left her paralyzed from the waist down.

The Vancouver Sun was first to report the news after a GoFundMe was set up to offer some financial relief to Ms. Smith. According to a co-worker, Tyler Mazzucco, Smith was struck in the head by the lowering bucket of a lift on Wednesday and had to undergo emergency spinal surgery.

“She was literally just sitting there and it came down on top of her,” Mazzucco told the Sun, and mentioned that Smith had her back to a boom lift and could not hear the machine over the noise of traffic.

Smith’s surgery was technically successful, but whether she will remain paralyzed will not be known until she goes through significant therapy. The GoFundMe set up for her has already raised $52,000 of its $100,000 goal. “Amanda will be unable to work for the foreseeable future and she needs our help to make ends meet until she settles,” reads the page. “We do not want her to have to worry about finances as she goes through these uncertain times.”

Production on Batwoman was halted just two days later amid mounting shutdowns in response to the spread of the coronavirus. Canadian labor agency WorkSafeBC is conducting an investigation into the accident.  

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