Posted on 02/11/2006 9:05:58 PM PST by FreedomCalls
AN Australian tourist has been charged with assault after telling a Texas woman to stop talking on her mobile phone at the movies.
Pauline Clayton was enjoying a matinee screening of Brokeback Mountain in a Texas cinema when her day suddenly turned ugly.
The former Sunshine Coast councillor said about halfway through the movie, a mobile phone started ringing nearby, a woman answered it and started talking.
"I put one finger up to my mouth to shoosh her," Ms Clayton said.
"She ignored me - I then leaned across and touched her with three or four fingers on the top of her arm."
When the "very large" woman failed to end her call, Ms Clayton again touched her on the shoulder and that was when the woman exploded.
Ms Clayton said the woman stood up over her, started shouting expletives at her and then stormed out of the cinema, in the town of Webster, just outside Houston.
A short time later two Texas police officers walked into the cinema and escorted Ms Clayton out.
She said the police took her to the food bar and explained that the woman had accused Ms Clayton of "invading her private space". The woman had made a complaint of assault because Ms Clayton had touched her.
"They were very apologetic," Ms Clayton said.
"They were very uncomfortable."
Ms Clayton said the officers had tried to dissuade the woman from making a complaint and had even told the woman that if she did make the complaint, police would charge the woman with disorderly conduct and using a profanity for her outburst in the cinema.
The woman refused to back down and not only was Ms Clayton charged, but the woman is now also due in court after being charged over her behaviour.
Ms Clayton was issued a citation and will appear in a Texas court next week to answer the charge.
With the help of an off-duty police officer who saw the fracas, she is hoping to escape with only a fine.
In the meantime Ms Clayton said she was hoping to get back to see the second half of Brokeback Mountain.
If convicted, Ms Clayton who grew up in Victoria and once worked as a journalist for The Sun newspaper in Brisbane, faces a fine of up to $675.
She said she had been told a conviction would not affect her chances of re-entering the US. Police said it was a "little matter" and they would not be notifying US immigration authorities about any conviction.
In the new, wussified America.
It's a shame that you can go to prison for punching someone that everyone would agree desperately needs to be punched.
I'd go one step further --- I'd sentence the guy to a life of hard labor in a Siberian ГУЛаг.
My ex- and our daughter went to see it just for that reason. They refused to talk about it afterwards, though.
They probably look at 'man on man' like men do the opposite. I how many guys would shell out $9.50 to see... hmm... maybe Dolly Parton and Angelina Jolie going at it?
What did I say? $9.50?
I'd probably wait to see if it came out on video ;-)
Yeah, you wouldn't want to miss one second of Brokeback Mountain.
It's a code word for "black person." There are a surprising number of racist jerks on FR.
Now I have no idea how the poster deduced the woman's race from the article -- are black people supposedly more prone to talking on mobile phones during films than the rest of us?
Only the sick ones.
§ 22.01. ASSAULT. (a) A person commits an offense if the person:(1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another, including the person's spouse;
(2) intentionally or knowingly threatens another with imminent bodily injury, including the person's spouse; or
(3) intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another when the person knows or should reasonably believe that the other will regard the contact as offensive or provocative.
I don't think so. The things women do to each other are things many men like to do to women. How many women like to have done to them what men do to other men?
While I am against illegal jamming, I am also against assholes. The woman on the phone can only be described this way. If I were a judge and the case came before me, I would dismiss all charges against the Australian lady and fine the other woman the maximum amount allowable by law. It isn't that difficult to turn off a phone or silence it in a theater. It's also the polite and proper thing to do. Anyone who refuses to do so should be asked to leave. Anyone who refuses to leave after being asked should be arrested.
Because she is such an a-hole she ran down to mall security and accused the woman of assault.
Of course the cops were uncomfortable. They know BS when they see it.
Not if I'd paid to see it, I wouldn't. You think it's OK to be an obnoxious ass in a movie just because you don't like the film being shown?
No, it's called getting someone's attention in a perfectly legal way.
Where did you read that the movie was "sold out". Not in Texas.
Texans can't even stop being invaded from Mexico.
You are from New Orleans, and you talk about gays in Texas?
I rarely even go to the movies anymore, has to be a megahit movie to get my attention so like last year I went maybe 3 times total. I just wait a while and it will be on DVD.
Cinemas are dead, evertbody is getting widescreens and besides the popcorn is wayyyy cheaper when you do it yourself.
I give the cinema house industry less than five years to go unless they can create a memorable viewing experiance I cannot do at home.
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