So you’re at the movies and the person in front of you has her phone on and is tapping away merrily. It’s the previews, so who really cares? And now the movie has just started, still annoying, but okay. Five minutes in, however, is kind of pushing it. That’s when witnesses at an American Film Institute screening of Mr. Turner say one man in the audience politely asked a woman to put her phone away. She allegedly responded by spraying Mace in his face.
The whole thing went down at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Monday night, eyewitnesses say, including one person who related the night’s events to Mashable.
According to that source and others who spoke to local media like ABC 7 News, the movie had just started when a man near the back asked a woman in front of him to turn off her phone, as the screen was glowing visibly.
“He was saying ‘Excuse me sir, could you please turn off your screen'” repeatedly, the eyewitness told Mashable, as he’d apparently thought the woman was a man at first. After getting no response the first few times, he tapped her on the shoulder.
She reportedly “flipped out” on him, the witness said, standing up and cursing at him, saying he hit her and she was going to call the police. She then turned her phone’s flashlight app on and shone it directly into his face, the eyewitness said.
After almost a minute, while her fellow moviegoers begged her to turn the phone off and sit, the man remained calm. Then she allegedly told him she had mace, and rummaged around in her bag until she found it.
“You hit me and I’m going to Mace you now,'” another eyewitness speaking to ABC 7 recalled her saying.
She then reportedly then took the cap off, pointed the bottle at his face and sprayed him.
He and the woman he was sitting next to and apparently with sat there for a moment while the alleged attacker sat down. The twosome left, and the woman sat for about 20 minutes watching the movie (which never stopped running), until volunteers and security escorted the woman out.
ABC 7 says an AFI spokeswoman confirmed that a woman was escorted from the theater for pepper-spraying a man in the face, and that she was told the victim is “fine.”
It’s unclear if any charges have been pressed, though the LAPD told ABC 7 it hadn’t received any calls from the theater.
Related: 9% Of Americans Are Bad People, Think It’s OK To Use Phone At Movies
Man maced at movie theater for asking woman to turn off her phone [Mashable]
WOMAN SPRAYS MACE IN MAN’S FACE AT CHINESE THEATRE SCREENING [ABC 7 News]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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