Irish actor and film producer, Pierce Brosnan has pleaded not guilty to allegedly wandering into a ‘delicate’ and dangerous hot springs at Yellowstone National Park, despite being pictured standing on the protected area.
The James Bond star entered a plea via a paper filing on January 4 over the November 2023 incident in the US District Court for Wyoming, according to Cowboy State Daily.
Magistrate Judge Stephanie A. Hambrick granted the 70-year-old’s request to cancel his initial appearance, setting up a virtual conference for February 20 instead.
Brosnan was cited twice over the alleged violations at the thermals in the Mammoth Terraces section of the park and had been due to appear in court on January 23.
The alleged offences are said to have taken place on November 1. A personal photo uploaded to an account exposing ‘tourons’ (tourist morons) of Yellowstone showed him on the snow-encrusted springs.
The features are dangerous and fragile.
If damaged, they can take years to correct. Numerous people have been killed from falling into Yellowstone’s scalding pools.
The alleged offences are said to have taken place on November 1.
The Mammoth Terraces are a popular feature in Yellowstone, constantly changing in color and activity.
Federal rules stipulate visitors to national parks must stay on the designated walkways and venturing off the boardwalk is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
Brosnan is just the latest tourist to try to bend the rules at the stunning national park.
At least 22 people have died from burns sustained in Yellowstone’s springs and geysers.
They include Colin Nathaniel Scott, who is thought to have dissolved in the hot acidic water after leaving the boardwalk at the park’s Norris Geyser Basin in search of a place to soak in 2015.
In 2021, a Connecticut woman was jailed for seven days, fined $2,000, and banned from Yellowstone for two years for leaving the walkway and approaching the thermals.
In addition to his four James Bond films, Brosnan starred in Dante’s Peak – a film highlighting the potential dangers of such springs.
He had been in the area filming ‘The Unholy Trinity,’ a Western starring Brosnan as a sheriff alongside Samuel L. Jackson.
Water temperatures at Mammoth Terraces’ springs routinely soar to 161 degrees, while some springs at Yellowstone can register as low as 2 on the pH scale – just one mark above coercive stomach acid.
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