Movie theater assault victim speaks out after seat dispute turned violent
Florida authorities released video footage of the 10 July attack at Pompano Beach theatre
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A 63-year-old moviegoer who was assaulted after asking a couple to move from his reserved seats revealed how the younger attacker “just went to town on me.”
The victim, who has not been identified, reserved VIP tickets with his wife for a movie on 10 July at the AMC Pompano Beach 18 theater. He arrived to find another man and woman sitting in the seats and asked them to move.
“This guy just kept staring at me instead of getting up,” the victim told NBC6 on Friday. “I said to the people at this point, who didn’t apologize or say thank you, I said, ‘You guys can just keep the seats.’
“As I’m walking away, he said ‘Go run to your wife little boy.’ So I turned around and I said, ‘You know, I’m not the one who’s being a little boy, you took my seats and you didn’t apologize or you didn’t say thank you and I let you keep them.’”
“He jumped up, he wanted to fight me, he backed me up, I fell over the stairs and as soon as I fell down the stairs, it was like a boxer being against the ropes, this guy just went to town on me,” the victim said.
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He told the station that he “couldn’t even get a defensive shot in.”
“It happened so fast,” he said. “He basically sucker-punched me, is what he did.”
The victim is a disabled veteran and suffered a broken nose and needed stitches at a local hospital, the station reported.
“I didnt think anybody would be stupid enough to actually start a fight like that in the movies,” the victim said.
Broward Sheriff’s Office Violent Crimes Unit detectives have released video of the attack.
“In the heated moment, the victim loses his balance and falls down the steps,” the office said in an accompanying release. “The subject is seen standing above the 63-year-old victim repeatedly punching him in the face until witnesses rushed to the victim’s aid and pulled the subject off him.
“The subject and the adult female left the theater.”
Authorities have appealed to the public for help in identifying the couple.