You’ll rarely ever hear someone say a bad word about Andre the Giant. Fellow wrestlers respected him, and when names like the Ultimate Warrior stepped out of line, Andre was there to set them straight. His fellow cast members in The Prince Bride have raved about him in interviews, and even Vince McMahon, known for being cold-hearted, wept when talking about his late friend in a documentary. Andre was a gentle giant, but like many of us, he could also have a temper. That came out one night after a match when he attacked and injured a cameraman for filming him. It was a moment that landed Andre behind bars.
Andre the Giant Attacked A Cameraman At A WWE Show In Iowa
- Cameraman Ben Hildebrandt was told not to film Andre’s match.
- Andre the Giant squashed the Ultimate Warrior in just seconds.
- He slapped the cameraman and broke the camera.
The incident occurred on the night of August 21, 1989, when WWE was in town for a house show in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at the Five Seasons Center (later renamed the U.S. Cellular Center). Andre was set to face the Ultimate Warrior in the main event, but it was an unfortunate cameraman who became his real opponent.
In a story recounted by The Gazette for the 30th anniversary of the incident, Ben Hildebrandt, who was just 23 at the time, recalled what happened. Hildebrandt was a cameraman for KRCG-TV and was at the show to shoot, edit, and write a piece about the event. He had no issues filming other superstars during their matches, but before Andre came out, the ring announcer told him he couldn’t record Andre.
“I said, ‘Fine, may I record him walking in and the bell being rung?’ The announcer said, ‘Fine.’ André walks in, I shoot that. I shoot the bell being rung and immediately he’s pinned. I’m not even looking and suddenly André is on me.”
Andre beat the Ultimate Warrior in just 30 seconds, then went after Hildebrandt, trying to grab his camera. Andre got the camera and broke it, but he also slapped Ben Hildebrandt across the face. The fans, who thought it was all part of the show, then started dumping beer and spitting on the cameraman.
Andre The Giant Was Arrested And The Camerman Was Injured
- Andre was arrested for assault, but he was too big to be handcuffed.
- Because his hands were so big, his prints had to be taken on a piece of paper.
- Andre signed his autograph on his hand print for a police officer.
The attack was witnessed by a Cedar Rapids police officer named Dave Zahner, who was doing crowd control for the show. He told The Gazette:
“You don’t know what’s for show and what’s not. But it was definitely a shove, definitely an assault and he definitely did some damage to the camera.”
Backstage, Ben Hildebrandt was screamed at by promoters for filming Andre’s match after being told not to, though footage showed that he never filmed Andre wrestling. He wanted to just go home at first, but after being persuaded to have charges filed against Andre for assault, he agreed.
Sgt. Jerry Potter arrived on scene to take Andre into custody, who first said he wasn’t going with them. Just how do you convince a giant that he’s under arrest? Potter took the smarter strategy of talking calmly to Andre.
“I just explained to him, ‘You are under arrest, you do have to go over to the jail with us, but it’s not a big problem. Your manager will follow us, you’ll be released and it won’t even take that long.’”
Andre complied, although he wasn’t handcuffed because they didn’t have cuffs big enough. Potter joked that he could use leg shackles as handcuffs instead, which actually got Andre to laugh. At the station, Andre’s fingerprints were taken, but again, because of his immense size, a piece of paper instead of a standard card had to be used. Andre, back to being his gentle self, even signed a photo of his hand print for Sgt. Potter.
As for Hildebrandt, he was actually injured. Andre had slapped him so hard that the cameraman suffered a strained spine and whiplash, leaving him in a neck brace for a short time.
The Incident Highlighted How Much Pain Andre the Giant Was In
- Andre was found not guilty of assault.
- He had to pay a fine for criminal mischief and replace the broken camera.
- A lawsuit between Andre, the cameraman, the TV station, and the arena was settled out of court.
Andre ended up being not found guilty of assault, but he did have to pay a $100 fine for criminal mischief, and had to replace the broken camera, which cost $233. There was a lawsuit as well, settled out of court, with the TV station and the arena suing Andre over the camera and worker’s compensation. In response, Andre sued both of them, as well as Ben Hildebrandt.
Everyone in law enforcement respected Andre, with Sgt. Potter going so far as to call the incident a fun memory. For Andre, it may have been a sad one. This was not his usual behavior, but there may have been a heartbreaking reason why he was in such an angry mood. Dave Meltzer was interviewed by The Gazette, and he told them about Andre’s giantism, and how the pain from the pressure on his bones and joints was getting so bad that he was sometimes in a wheelchair after matches.
Not too long after the incident, Ben Hildebrandt left the TV news world behind and got into consulting and public relations. As for Andre the Giant, his health continued to decline. A little more than three years later, on January 28, 1993, he was gone.
