Man Arrested After Pepper Spraying A Phone User At The Movies

There is nothing worse than being in the movie theater during a dark scene of a movie and all of a sudden there's a bright light off to your right that's blinding you... it's somebody's phone on maximum brightness. It's frustrating, but usually it only lasts for a couple of seconds. The real question is, what would you do if you had to be blinded over and over again throughout the whole movie?

Officers with the Burbank Police Department responded to the AMC 16 theater around 5:30pm on September 15th after being called about a pepper-spraying incident in one of the theaters.

A couple of people sitting on top of a stage

Upon arrival, they found the suspect, 34-year-old Matthew Ware, became upset with the other patron who was using their cellphone excessively in the theater, and sprayed the person with pepper spray.

Two other moviegoers reported experiencing irritation from the pepper spray and were treated at a local hospital.

It was about 40 minutes into the movie when the incident happened.

red and black theater chairs

"Everything was normal and all of a sudden behind me, I hear the sound of an aerosol can, like a spray," said Joe Rodriguez told NBC Los Angeles. "And a guy just yells out, 'I just got pepper sprayed. This guy just pepper sprayed me.'"

Rodriguez told NBC News that he was sitting in the row directly in front of the altercation and saw Ware immediately run out of the theater. Three other people chased Ware before finding him somewhere else in the theater.

Ware was arrested and booked into the Bubank Jail on suspicion of misdemeanor battery, according to police.