Report: Woman Maced Moviegoer Who Politely Asked Her to Stop Texting
According to reports, a moviegoer who made the grave mistake of asking a woman to turn off her distractingly bright cell phone ended up getting harassed and maced at a Hollywood movie screening Monday night.
According to Mashable, the woman was using her phone—which was visibly glowing—during an AFI Film Festival screening of Mr. Turner at the TCL Chinese movie theater.
"He was saying 'Excuse me sir, could you please turn off your screen'" over and over, the eyewitness tells Mashable. After repeating himself several times, and without a response, the man then tapped the woman on the shoulder.
The woman reacted angrily to being touched, and "flipped out" on him, the eyewitness said. "She stands up and starts cursing, saying 'You hit me, you hit me, I'm going to call the police." She then turned the phone's flashlight function on and pointed it directly at the man's face.
The awkward standoff lasted for nearly a minute, the witness said, and she continued shining the light even as people all around implored her to turn it off and sit down. As the man was calmly defending himself, she then told him she had mace and started digging in her bag.
Mashable reports she sprayed the man "at point-blank range," then calmly sat down and continued to watch the film until security escorted her out 20 minutes later. Variety reports that although the man and his date left the theater immediately after the mace drama, the rest of the audience "rather enjoyed the rest of the film."
A corporate rep told the Hollywood Reporter that the theater is investigating the incident.
