Oscar-winning ‘Crash’ director Paul Haggis wipes away tears giving testimony in rape trial

Haggis, 69, reached for tissues after his lawyer completed questioning him a closing time following cross examination that started Thursday and stretched into Friday afternoon.

After three days of testimony, the winner of Oscars for “Crash” and “Million Greenback Child” was emotional as he described himself as “a really flawed human being.”

He additionally stated he made “Crash,” a 2004 movie about Los Angeles people compelled to confront racial points when their vastly completely different lives cross each other, as a result of he “couldn’t determine how you can be good.”

The comment by Haggis prompted his lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, to ask if his self-criticism was a reference to sexually assaulting anybody.

“Oh, God no!” he answered.

Chaudhry’s questions got here after lawyer Ilann Maazel confronted Haggis with dozens of inconsistencies between his testimony from the witness stand and a video recording of a deposition by which he was requested most of the similar questions.

Maazel represents Haleigh Breest, 36, who testified earlier within the trial that Haggis took her to his Manhattan condominium for a drink after a January 2013 screening afterparty. She stated he pushed her on a mattress, pulled her garments off, aggressively demanded oral intercourse and — after she took a bathe — raped her. She is searching for unspecified damages.

The Related Press typically doesn’t title individuals who say they’ve been sexually assaulted except they arrive ahead publicly, as Breest has completed.

In a single occasion of an inconsistency in testimony, Maazel tried to indicate that Haggis had admitted to over 25 affairs whereas he was married reasonably than 20 affairs.

He additionally elicited testimony about bodily violence between Haggis and an ex-wife, with Maazel saying Haggis as soon as hit her so laborious that she had bruising.

“She had a black eye,” Haggis responded. Haggis additionally stated he was the sufferer of “a really fiery particular person” who hit and punched him through the years.

The trial resumes Monday. Jurors had been instructed that closing arguments are probably on Wednesday, after they would in all probability start deliberations.