Man Beat Noisy 10-Year Old Moviegoer

Fed up with a bunch of noisy moviegoers sitting behind him during a showing of Titanic 3D, a Washington man decided to take matters into his own hands: he stepped over the seat and physically confronted his tormentors.

Now, who among us hasn't thought of doing that to inconsiderate jerks sitting behind us?

But problem is for the man above, he struck a 10-year-old kid.

The man, who told police he thought the person he hit was a grown man, was watching “Titanic” in 3-D with his girlfriend and had asked the people sitting behind to quiet down and stop throwing popcorn, but they laughed at him, he said.

“I got so mad that it just happened,” Yong Hyun Kim, 21, told police who arrested him the night of April 11 at the AMC Kent Station 14, in Kent, a south Seattle suburb.

The 10-year-old lost a tooth and had a bloody nose in the confrontation.

Link

Striking a child is a serious matter, but - surprisingly to me - there was actually wide support for the guy in the comment sections of various news outlets.

What do you think? Was this guy a jerk or a hero?


I would agree that this incident did not require violence on part of the actor. He should have summoned management and had the kid removed. An annoyance cannot be reacted with violence. Violence on violence is one thing...when life or property may be invoveled...was the kid a jerk? Yes, but this is the product of a failed schoolastic/immoral/anything 'goes' culture. I work in law enforcement. If I drew a firearm everytime someone annoyed me I'd be in prison.
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Jerk.

Physical violence should only be used in response to physical violence. Those who resort to physical violence out of temper (as this guy clearly did) are no more mature than the average toddler. It doesn't really matter if the victim had been a grown man, physical violence would not have been a proportionate response in this situation.

Even a ten year old could probably have dealt with this without resorting to physical violence.
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I'm sad that so many people have said the kid deserved it. Striking someone is serious(no matter what age the victim is) and matters like this should never be settled with physical attacks.

The kid didn't know how to act in a theater, and by the man's reaction, neither did the grown man. I bet both learned a valuable lesson in self control, but I am so mad they had to learn it this way.
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I see many commenters here trying to rationalize a grown man beating a child in the face.
It doesn't matter what the kid did.
What, if it was a woman she'd have been "asking for it"?

Lashing out in uncontrollable anger is barbarism, assault, and a chargeable offense.

The kids need discipline? Get the theatre manager and have them removed. That's how 'adults' behave in society.
A grown man shouldn't even be assaulting another grown man unless they're, again, barbarians.

I can see you people can obviously use the internet well enough to get to this story. Surely you're civilized in SOME ways, although I find it incredible you can put your pants on each day.
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I was thrown out of the movie theater once as a child for acting up. That was a permanent lesson in being mindful of people around me. Is that not standard procedure anymore?
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If I was the kid parents I'll pressed charges on the guy to pay the dentist bill, no more and because You don't hit MY Child.
However I'd say to my child that even if the over-react, it's that could happen when you annoy someone, ON PURPOSE. You never know with whom you're dealing with. Without being paranoïd, it's not only kinder but mostly way safer for yourself to be "kind" with other people.
I live in a town with a psychiatrict hospital nearby. Some of the less "crazy" patients can go into the town and have a somewhat normal life. But as a kid you learn very soon that while they're are harmless (even if Strange in a kid POV) some are prone to get angered by the smallest things (they scream a lot, in 20 years they're only one case to physical violence toward a kid, and, the kid provoked the man calling him names because "It's funny when he's angry". So you learnt to behave in public very very soon
Let's hope the kid learnt a lesson here and will stop his bad behavior.
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He's a jerk - he probably created enough commotion that none of the other guests in the theatre could watch the rest of the movie. Much more of a disruption than the 10-year-old could possibly have caused. (By the same logic that allows beating of the 10-year-old, should he have been beaten up? Recursively?)
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So being inconsiderate is an offence against all society and an abomination to god but punching someone in the face is a perfectly normal and reasonable response when something annoys you. Gotcha.
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I thought titanic is for M (mature)... Then in this case the man was right to punch someone as they all should be grown up that go to the movie...

its the child parents or the theater fault then for allowing a 10 years old watching a mature film and be noisy about it...
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I like how people are concerned over what lesson he taught the kid. He taught the kid to shut up. It's not his job to teach other people's children anything.

Why was the kid watching Titanic? I'd be climbing the walls in the theatre, too.

Violence: not the right answer, sadly.

I remember shutting up some loud guys at a theatre once by a brilliant retort. The entire theatre applauded, and we didn't hear a peep out of the talkers for the rest of the movie.
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Like Shepherd Book said, there's a special level of hell reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theater. The kid was in the wrong.

But the adult massively overreacted and was in the greater wrong. You don't get to pound a child because he's a rude brat.
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Yeah, hit all the misbehavin' brats! Kick 'em inna fork while you're at it! Serve's 'em right for being kids!

Seriously: America, you have a problem. Those of you who think that physically assaulting a child for being annoying is a-okay, please give up your children for adoption. Hey - think of that as having a tough stance!
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I wish more theaters would be as proactive as Alamo Drafthouse. I feel that when a patron pays to enjoy entertainment, even when it is with members of the public (which they cannot choose), the venue should take responsibility by aiding those patrons in having a good experience...

http://cf.drafthouse.com/she_texted_we_kicked_her_out2.html

But more to the point, I think he was a dumb-ass for hitting a kid. Brute force is often ego tinged with cowardice. And according to the article, no complaint was made. So perhaps given a chance, the theater would have dealt with it properly...as opposed to a 21 year old committing aggravated assault on a 10 year old. PUH-lease.
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As tempting as it might be to slug the little so-and-so, we are supposed to be the mature ones here. The lesson he taught the little kid? Hit strangers if they annoy you, even if they are smaller than you. I agree that the kid shouldn't have been there, and may be the product of bad parenting. But he isn't seeing better examples around him, is he?
Be a grown-up; report annoying people to the management, or look for another seat.
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My assistant principle cuffed me in the head when I mouthed off to him. We all respected and liked him, because he didn't take crap and was a nice guy, plus a Golden Gloves boxer in his day. Some A-hole would have sued him today.
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@ Cory--As a middle school teacher (with students only slightly older than 10), I have seen my share of students who cannot be coerced or threatened or intimidated by much of anyone...most kids do as theyre told and know how to act, but there are a few who do as they please and a lack of parenting is one reason for their poor behavior.
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HE'S A HERO. END OF STORY. Shut up when you are in a movie theatre, and don't keep opening your goddamn mobile phone. I pay to go to the movies and I expect everyone else to shut up. Kid deserved it, who cares if he was ten. There are consequences for every action.
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Here's one thing no one has brought up: why was a 10 year old watching Titanic, which is PG-13? When my son was 10, I didn't let him watch nude scenes or scenes of a sexual nature. He wasn't old enough for it.
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Of course he should get jail time - you don't go around hitting people so hard they lose teeth! How can you even ask the question "Is he a jerk or a hero"? How can anyone who punches someone (let alone a kid) merely for annoying them be a hero?

Oh my God, I have never seen such cruel comments. And racist on the link too.
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"What do you think? Was this guy a jerk or a hero?"

That's a false dichotomy Alex. Both of these people could be regular every day people, neither jerks nor heros, but whose paths crossed in unfortunate circumstances.

For all we know the kid just got out of an all-day Chuck-E-Cheese's birthday bash and is hyped up on sweets, greasy foods, and the constant adoration and praise of his age-mates and parents. The effect of this may be enough to temporarily blind the kid to any concern for others within a cloud of false confidence.

The man, for all we know, may have just left his physicians office wherein he was notified of a dramatically deteriorating medical condition, and wanted to enjoy a quiet and peaceful viewing of Titanic 3D before his terminal illness finally robs him of his senses.

Both people having legitimate reasons for their mental states, simply cross paths under inoportune circumstances. I mean it's entirely plausible that this kid is typically very considerate, and that this man is also. Most conflicts wind up being a tango of two, but frequently either party tries blame the other.
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@quaciker> That's funny, my dad hit me all the time.. all I learned was that my dad is an asshole. Well he stopped wen I broke his rib in a fight at least.
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I think the kid deserved it. Yeah, hitting a kid may not be the best move ever, but look at how kids are now. I know when I was growing up, if I did something like this my dad would give me a smack, and I learned how to behave. I've been walking down the street by a local school recently and had kids yelling at me, cussing at me, and trying to start crap, because they know that nothing will happen.

Quit coddling the kids and protecting them all the time, cause thats why we've got such bratty, overentitles pieces of trash running around.
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Sadly, there's no shortage of inconsiderate little brats who lack any sense of accountability, and irresponsible parents who allow them to behave this way. If the parents of this particular brat were doing their job, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

That said, he shouldn't have punched the kid. Dump a cold soda on him? Yeah, I'd be ok with that.
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Fuck this guy.

It's easy to intimidate kids into shutting up. I've done it. You stand up, you stare them down, you say literally anything, and they usually slouch away and shut up. You don't fucking hit them.

And no, please, dude did NOT think a 10-year-old was a grown man. He attacked a kid on purpose.
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Honestly, I'm with Lisa on this. You can't expect to mouth off 'cause you're a kid. Maybe he'll think next time before opening his trap.

I personally think the kid is lucky he just lost one tooth.
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Sucks for the kid. Maybe next time he'll behave in a theater.
Not saying what the guy did was right. He should've gotten up and complained to management, but yeah.. I have no sympathy for the brat that got popped.
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