COCONUT GROVE, FLA. (WSVN) - A night at the movies in Coconut Grove turned into an attack on a woman when a theater patron became violent after he appeared to be set off by her laughter.
The 24-year-old woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, spoke with 7News on Tuesday. She said Sunday night’s incident landed her at the hospital with a fractured finger, bruised cheek and an eye injury.
“Yeah, he got angry,” she said.
Cellphone video captured what unfolded inside an auditorium at Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas Coconut Grove after a group of friends all laughed at a scene in a movie.
“Something happened in the movie, and we are laughing, like ‘ha, ha, ha,’ and he say, ‘Shut the [expletive] up, [expletive],’ and I said, ‘You can say be quiet not shut the [expletive] up [expletive],'” the woman said.
The victim said the man sitting in front did not like their laughter and started heading their way.
“And he walked to me saying, ‘I want to throw away all of your food,’ and I said, ‘Do it,’ and he did it, but I never thought he was going to get the tray and hit me on my face and break my finger.” she said.
The video then shows the man slapping the woman in the face with a pizza pan and then throwing pizza slices on a plate up in the air.
The victim is seen covering her face as her friends wondered what upset the man.
“What happened?” said a person in the video.
After this, the woman said the man casually returned to his row to continue to see the movie.
“He hit me and then went to his seat, and sat like nothing, then he said, ‘Cheers,'” the woman said.
Her friend snapped a picture of him lifting his plastic cup before they called for security and police.
As a guard took the man out of the theater, the group followed them, hoping the guard would hold him there until police arrived.
But the victim said the man was let go prior to police’s arrival.
“I was crying, and my friends were mad because they let him go,'” the woman said.
By the time officers got there, the man was long gone.
“If we don’t have the video, they believe him, not me,” said the woman.
She said she’s thankful her friend thought to record a video of the attack, which has now been turned over to police.
According to the Miami Police Department’s Assault Unit, the case is now under investigation.
7News has reached out to the cinema for a statement, but has not received a response as of Wednesday morning.
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