Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Theater violence

This is topic Theater violence in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 10-29-2003, 08:33 AM:

Seems we are hearing more and more about problems with unruly crowds. When the politicians step in, it gets dicey. Here's a link:
http://app.com/app2001/story/0,21133,842807,00.html

This story appeared in today's Asbury Park Press.

Edit: I ment to post this in Ground Level. Sorry Brad. You may want to move this topic.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 10-29-2003, 08:39 AM:

Here is the text from the story to prevent this becoming a dead link.

Theater violence prompts warning

Published in the Asbury Park Press 10/29/03
Mayor: We won't tolerate fighting
By KEITH BROWN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

EATONTOWN -- Responding to fighting and arrests outside the Loews Theatre at Monmouth Mall, the mayor yesterday said the borough would come down hard on anyone involved in violence.

"We will deal with this, and we will deal with this harshly," Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo said, after seven people were arrested last Friday and early Saturday in three separate incidents outside the theater. "We just won't tolerate it.

"There are elements coming from out of town who are using (the theater) as a battleground," Tarantolo said. "And we just won't tolerate that."

The mayor said violence "seems to coincide with the showing of ethnic movies."

On July 13, police made 10 arrests after a fight following a showing of the movie "Bad Boys II." The violence was prompted by moviegoers who were making fun of Haitians as they left the theater. In the movie, Haitians are portrayed as violent, drug-dealing villains.

Tomorrow Tarantolo will meet -- for the third time this month -- with representatives of the security forces at Loews and at Monmouth Mall, and with Eatontown police, as part of an "ongoing dialogue" about ways to curb violence, he said.

Gary Laneve, director of security at Loews headquarters in New York, said he has met with the mayor and will attend tomorrow's meeting but declined to comment further. Ben Levine, general manager of Monmouth Mall, also declined to comment.

To supplement the Loews security force, police from Eatontown and nearby towns have been hired by the theater chain, Tarantolo said.

Two of the officers involved in Friday night's incidents were on duty at the theater at the time, said borough police Capt. George Jackson.

"We are doing everything reasonable under the Constitution to make sure we don't infringe on the rights of people who want to go to the movies to be entertained," Tarantolo said. "But we will come down hard on any element that's going to disrupt that."

About 9:30 p.m. Friday, a melee involving several dozen people erupted, police said Monday. Two 14-year-old Neptune girls and a 17-year-old Tinton Falls resident were charged in connection with that fight, Jackson said.

Later, Xavier Bruno, 18, of Keyport, was charged with aggravated assault after slashing the face of a 15-year-old Neptune resident with a razor blade, Jackson said. Bruno also was charged with possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and was being held yesterday at the Monmouth County Jail, Freehold Township, in lieu of $25,000 bail.

The 15-year-old, who fled from police but was apprehended, also was charged with criminal mischief for slashing the tire of a vehicle that belonged to a friend of Bruno, sparking the incident, Jackson said.

Men fight with police
Just after midnight, two Asbury Park men were arrested for fighting with police after officers asked one of them to extinguish a cigarette in the theater lobby, Jackson said.

Nicholas Taylor, 25, of Fifth Avenue, wrestled with officers who tried to arrest him after he was escorted out of the theater for shouting obscenities at police, Jackson said.

Antony Fletcher, 27, of Second Avenue, attempted to interfere with Taylor's arrest several times, according to police, and was placed under arrest. Fletcher resisted, and during a struggle, he got Patrolman Ryan Braswell into a headlock and was choking him, Jackson said. Braswell freed himself and was able to subdue Fletcher, Jackson said.

Fletcher was charged with disorderly conduct, aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. Taylor was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 10-29-2003, 04:59 PM:

god, i hate belligerent smokers. on my recent trip to europe, i just kept encountering people smoking in posted no-smoking areas, and was astounded at the i-don't-give-a-shit attitude of everyone, from perps to law enforcement. i made a personal point of trying to tell everyone i saw doing it to stop, both in languages i could get by in (german) and ones i couldn't (french). i tried to be civil but my fuse was getting pretty short. one guy, after putting out his cig (a rare success!), actually berated me for the rudeness of pointing out his violation. i could have killed him! but no, i didn't go beyond cursing like a dumb american.

carl

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-30-2003, 05:05 PM:

Although the Asbury Park Press won't admit it, this riot had something to do with Scary Movie 3 -- just like the riot at the AMC Hamilton.

As is typical with a theater riot, the mayor in the theater's town found it useful to get in a little race-baiting. Eatontown is largely white and Asbury Park is mostly non-white.

Also, Bad Boys II was not released until 7/18.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-08-2003, 01:06 PM:

To bump this topic up, I just saw a report on CNN's Headline News about a number of theater projectionist union members being arrested for terrorizing theater employees in several states. They were trying to strong-arm theaters into hiring union members. A couple theater managers were beaten up.

Posted by Erika McCarty (Member # 2006) on 11-12-2003, 08:46 PM:

I'd like to share a story from last summer...
I was working a box office shift when two customers walked up screaming various obscenities at each other. We thought the two were a feuding couple, but when the woman start hitting the man with her umbrella we called the police. Turns out it was an incidence of 'road rage'...the two were strangers! Apparently this guy cut this woman off over 20 miles ago in Dallas and she followed him to McKinney. Fairly ridiculous.