On July 12, 2017, Bernecker was performing stunts on the television series
The Walking Dead. During rehearsal of a stunt, Bernecker fell onto a concrete floor, missing a placed safety cushion by "inches", and sustained a severe head injury. This shut down production on the series. He was taken to
Atlanta Medical Center and placed on life support. He died from his injuries the following day. His death was the first of two in two months of a stunt performer in
North America, followed by the August death of stuntwoman
Joi Harris while filming
Deadpool 2.
Tributes Tributes were paid by people Bernecker worked with, including
Walking Dead stars
Norman Reedus,
Jeffrey Dean Morgan and
Lauren Cohan. The premiere episode of the eighth season, "
Mercy", the first to air after the accident, was dedicated "In Memory of John Bernecker", along with dedication to
George A. Romero who died three days later. The movie
Game Night has a dedication to his memory at the end of the credits. A dedication was also made in his memory in the credits for the series finale of ''
Turn: Washington's Spies. The movie Avengers Of Justice: Farce Wars'' has a tribute at the end of all the credits. Bernecker was buried at
Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans. The jury trial was held in December 2019, with the jury awarding Bernecker's family in damages after finding that TWD 8, AMC's production company, and Stalwart Films were negligent in Bernecker's death, while clearing AMC of any wrongdoing. This verdict was later repealed by the Georgia Court of Appeals. == References ==