diff --git a/src/Expr.cc b/src/Expr.cc
index 97099a8995..7995d5d495 100644
--- a/src/Expr.cc
+++ b/src/Expr.cc
@@ -3286,20 +3286,22 @@ RecordConstructorExpr::RecordConstructorExpr(ListExpr* constructor_list)
 
 Val* RecordConstructorExpr::InitVal(const BroType* t, Val* aggr) const
 	{
-	RecordVal* rv = Eval(0)->AsRecordVal();
-	RecordVal* ar = rv->CoerceTo(t->AsRecordType(), aggr);
+	Val* v = Eval(0);
 
-	if ( ar )
+	if ( v )
 		{
-		Unref(rv);
-		return ar;
+		RecordVal* rv = v->AsRecordVal();
+		RecordVal* ar = rv->CoerceTo(t->AsRecordType(), aggr);
+
+		if ( ar )
+			{
+			Unref(rv);
+			return ar;
+			}
 		}
 
-	else
-		{
-		Error("bad record initializer");
-		return 0;
-		}
+	Error("bad record initializer");
+	return 0;
 	}
 
 Val* RecordConstructorExpr::Fold(Val* v) const
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/language.record-bad-ctor/out b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.record-bad-ctor/out
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2b890419ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.record-bad-ctor/out
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+error in /Users/jsiwek/Projects/bro/bro/testing/btest/.tmp/language.record-bad-ctor/record-bad-ctor.bro, line 6: no type given (asdfasdf)
+error in /Users/jsiwek/Projects/bro/bro/testing/btest/.tmp/language.record-bad-ctor/record-bad-ctor.bro, line 7: uninitialized list value ($ports=asdfasdf)
+error in /Users/jsiwek/Projects/bro/bro/testing/btest/.tmp/language.record-bad-ctor/record-bad-ctor.bro, line 7: bad record initializer ([$ports=asdfasdf])
diff --git a/testing/btest/language/record-bad-ctor.bro b/testing/btest/language/record-bad-ctor.bro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6b7ae4ff19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/language/record-bad-ctor.bro
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# @TEST-EXEC-FAIL: bro -b %INPUT >out 2>&1
+# @TEST-EXEC: TEST_DIFF_CANONIFIER=$SCRIPTS/diff-remove-abspath btest-diff out
+
+# At least shouldn't crash Bro, just report the invalid record ctor.
+
+global asdfasdf;
+const blah = [$ports=asdfasdf];
+print blah;