Exclusive
A stuntman for "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" claims he almost died when his crazy on-fire motorcycle stunt went horribly wrong and now wants the movie to PAY UP for all the damages.
According to documents obtained by TMZ, Mike Gaboff -- a stunt pro known as "Crazy Mike" -- filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court on Friday against Sony Pictures, Break Point Media and Next Point Inc., three companies in charge of the film.
In the docs, Mike says he was hired in April 2012 to perform a stunt for the DVD release -- in which he was to ride a motorcycle off a steep ramp while lit on fire, jump across a large lake, and then land in the water.
But the stunt went seriously wrong ... Mike overshot the landing and hit the rock-hard ground instead -- which was captured on tape -- and reportedly suffered a broken lower back, pelvis, neck, both arms, ribs, collar bone, collapsed lungs and second-degree burns. You can see him lying limp on the ground, moments after the crash (below).
In the lawsuit, Mike says the movie's "negligence" is to blame for his near-death experience -- claiming the film knew the move posed a HUGE risk and yet it "consciously chose not to take specific safety measures."
Not only that, Mike says production-honchos were WARNED not to go through with the "ultrahazardous activities," but chose to risk it "despite requests not to do so."
Mike's suing for medical expenses and loss of earnings -- he doesn't specify a dollar amount -- but he reportedly spent two months in a hospital recovering, with bills over $1 million. Translation -- he's gonna want some serious dough.
At the time of the accident, Break Media issued a statement saying, “[Gaboff was hired] as an independent third party and was fully responsible for the design and execution of the stunt. Any claims to the contrary are false."