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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
its the child parents or the theater fault then for allowing a 10 years old watching a mature film and be noisy about it...
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.
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.
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!
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.
Be a grown-up; report annoying people to the management, or look for another seat.
Oh my God, I have never seen such cruel comments. And racist on the link too.
I don't buy it.
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.
Quit coddling the kids and protecting them all the time, cause thats why we've got such bratty, overentitles pieces of trash running around.
That said, he shouldn't have punched the kid. Dump a cold soda on him? Yeah, I'd be ok with that.
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.
I personally think the kid is lucky he just lost one tooth.
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.