A 34-year-old man from California has been arrested after allegedly pepper-spraying a person at a movie theater who was using his cellphone during the film, according to authorities.
Police arrested Matthew Ware on 15 September after purportedly pepper spraying a patron at the AMC Burbank 16 who was using his cellphone, while two other moviegoers nearby also experienced irritation from the pepper spray, according to the Burbank police department. All three people were treated at a local hospital.
Ware was charged with misdemeanor battery and booked at the Burbank jail.
A witness who spoke to NBC News said the incident occurred 40 minutes into the movie.
“Everything was normal and all of a sudden behind me, I hear the sound of an aerosol can, like a spray,” Joe Rodriguez told the news outlet. “And a guy just yells out, ‘I just got pepper-sprayed. This guy just pepper-sprayed me.’”
Another moviegoer said he saw Ware run out of the movie theater immediately after pepper-spraying the patron. Three people chased him until they found him elsewhere in the theatre.
Rodriguez told NBC News that the confrontation did not seem like self-defense.
“The thing that stuck out the most was him saying that the guy on the phone ‘got smart’ with him,” Rodriguez told the outlet. “This was just a guy who was frustrated and lashed out because a guy was being rude at the movies.”
