A man in California was arrested for allegedly spraying a fellow theatergoer with pepper spray as the person used a cellphone during a movie.
Matthew Ware was arrested last week after he allegedly sprayed another patron with pepper spray. Ware was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor battery, NBC News reported.
He was released after about 12 hours, according to KABC.
Burbank Police Department Lt. Brent Fekety said two others in the theater were affected by the spray and were treated at a local hospital.
The incident went viral after witness Joe Rodriguez posted Ware’s arrest to Reddit in an AMC A-list Stubs subreddit.
“The thing that stuck out the most was him saying that the guy on the phone ‘got smart’ with him, and that led me to believe that this wasn’t self-defense or anything,” Rodriguez told NBC News. “This was just a guy who was frustrated and lashed out because a guy was being rude at the movies.”
Rodriguez told KCBS that the man had the screen brightness down the whole way as he scrolled on the device.
He also spoke to those seated near the man who was sprayed, who said that Ware asked him to get off the phone, but the person refused.
They were about 30 to 40 minutes into the film “The Uprising,” KCBS reported.
The discussion was so popular that the moderator locked it down because users have “been down every rat-hole argument there [is] to have about this incident,” NBC News said.
One Redditor wrote, “Not cool to pepper spray. Not cool to be on your phone during a movie. Both things true.”
Another forum, Save Your Cinema, had more than 35,000 likes in 17 hours after the incident, KTLA reported. Some responses took Ware’s side in the situation.
“But I have to know. Did he do it cinematically? Like did he stand up slow and ominously and turn to them and say. ‘I see that you’re on your phone in the movies!? Well I hope you like your popcorn and your experience extra spicy !!!!’ (sprays with reckless abandon laughing manically),” one person wrote..
Another said, “The Batman statue down the stairs needs to be replaced with a statue of this hero.”
Then there was one who called Ware an “icon” who should get a free MoviePass for life.
Another said, “That person will not talk on the phone during a movie again,” according to KTLA.
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