LA cinemagoer pepper-sprays person using phone during film

A cinema patron in Los Angeles has been arrested for using pepper spray on a fellow moviegoer who was using their phone during the screening.

The incident occurred on September 15 at the AMC Burbank 16 cinema, during a screening of the Andrew Garfield drama The Uprising. A witness told NBC News that a man in the audience asked another man to stop using his phone, with the request being declined. The witness then said he could hear the sound of aerosol spray, and felt the room fill with stinging gas.

The assailant was identified as 34-year-old Matthew Ware of Los Angeles. According to witness Joe Rodriguez’s post on Reddit, Ware ran from the auditorium following the incident and was pictured being arrested in the cinema’s lobby. Police reports confirmed (via SFGate) that he was charged with misdemeanour battery and released the following morning. Aside from the victim, two other cinemagoers were treated for minor irritation at a local hospital.

This guy pepper sprayed a whole row of people because one of them was on their phone the other day at the Burbank 16
byu/Dry_Commission2937 inAMCAListTrue

It was described as “the most bizarre experience” by Rodriguez, who added: “ They didn’t even stop the movie or anything until 15 minutes after the whole thing went down despite the back of the theater smelling like pepper spray. From what I could tell listening to those who were sprayed the guy had his phone brightness all the way down and I didn’t hear any altercation before the spray going off.”

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The post concluded: “I know someone being on their phone is annoying but this kind of behaviour is even more ridiculous. Especially since the sprayer also was apparently recording the altercation on his phone before spraying them.”

Cinema etiquette has been the focus of several headlines in the past few years, with some movies prompting raucous reactions from audiences. In 2022, the “Gentleminions” trend saw young fans of the movie Minions: The Rise Of Gru attending screenings in suits and noisily reacting to the film, sparking debate on what was appropriate for a family screening.

A similar debate rose last year following the success of A Minecraft Movie, when young fans of the video game caused “chaos” in screenings.