A man who asked a fellow filmgoer to turn off her phone during a film screening in LA was assaulted with self-defence spray by the angry woman on Monday night, reports Mashable.
During an American Film Institute screening of Mike Leigh’s biopic Mr Turner at the Chinese theatre in Hollywood, the man repeatedly said: “Excuse me sir, could you please turn off your screen?” After failing to attract the attention of the woman, whom he had apparently mistaken for a man, the filmgoer tapped her on the shoulder. The woman allegedly turned around, accused the man of hitting her and threatened to call the police.
After a minute’s standoff, during which the male filmgoer calmly defended his actions while the woman shone her phone’s flashlight in his face and other attendees rebuked her, the attacker reached into her bag and sprayed the man in the eyes. “Everyone in the audience was watching in disbelief,” an eyewitness told Variety.
The victim and his female companion left the cinema, but the attacker watched Mr Turner for another 15 to 20 minutes before security escorted her from the premises. The woman has so far not been identified, and it is not clear if police are investigating the altercation.
A spokesperson for the American Film Institute told the Hollywood Reporter: “There was an incident, and it has been handled, and everyone is OK.”
In January, a retired Florida policeman was charged with murder after allegedly shooting a man who was texting during a film. Authorities said Curtis Reeves and Chad Oulson argued prior to a screening of the movie Lone Survivor when Reeves asked Oulson to stop using his phone.
