Jimmy Smits Accidentally Stabs Stuntman with Real Knife

TV stuntman Jeff Chase is lucky to be alive after actor Jimmy Smits stabbed him with a real knife while filming a fight scene for the hit Showtime TV show, "Dexter." Instead of grabbing the prop knife, Smits accidentally picked up a real knife and plunged it into Chase.

Chase's life was spared only by a piece of plastic that was placed over his heart, which somehow, Smits miraculously hit. An inch to the left or right, and he could have been looking at a knife lodged right through his heart.

Of the brush with death, Chase said:

"For the scene, I was bound in Saran Wrap, duct tape over my mouth. I couldn't say a thing as I saw Jimmy grab at the knife. He picked up the real one by pure mistake. It was a mean looking knife.

"I heard fellow actor Michael C. Hall yelling at Jimmy to stop - but it was too late. I felt the thud in my chest. I didn't have on a metal breast plate like a lot of actors do in a scene like that.

"Instead I had a piece of acrylic clear plastic about the size of a Post-it note over my heart. It was a quarter of an inch thick and not attacked. In eight out of 10 takes with the prop knife, Jimmy had missed the plastic. But by a miracle, an act of God, the knife landed at the very edge of the plastic.

"I really thought I'd been stabbed in the heart, but I didn't have a scratch. Jimmy was devastated and couldn't stop apologising. I told him, I felt more sorry for him than me."

Dexter airs Sunday evenings at 9pm ET on HBO. Season 3 kicked off Sunday, September 28.