The Daily Telegraph – February 11, 2006:
An Australian tourist has been charged with assault after telling a Texas woman to stop talking on her mobile phone at the movies.
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.
With the help of an off-duty police officer who saw the fracas, she is hoping to escape with only a fine.
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The person on the phone at the cinema should be fined! That’s nuts. Do you pay £6 to go to the cinema to watch a ton of adverts and then have the film ruined by someone talking during it!?
I’m surprised, only a $675 fine?
I though in Texas they execute people for crimes like this.
talking on the cell in the movie theater is nothing – I was at a WEDDING once when a woman in the pews picked up the phone and started chatting. sometimes I wonder if the % of the population that are self-centered clods has increased, or if cell phones have just given them the opportunity to display their cloddishness in public.
Only in Texas – home of the true jackasses.
The person on the phone should’ve been tossed out. She got charged as well so we’ll see who gets convicted and for how much…
That said, the article doesn’t make sense. It first says she’s hoping to escape with only a fine, then says that she could be fined up to $675 if convicted.
Na, Texas won’t fry her. If she was retarded, that would be another story!
No wonder the world loves us…
In almost all US jurisdictions if you lay a hand on another you can be charged with simple assault. In many cases you don’t even have to touch the person, just make them feel threatened by intruding on their personal space. These laws has been toughened over the years mostly to protect females from mashers. Don’t ever lay your hand on another person without explicit permission or they can swear out a warrant. To fight this in court would cost at least 4 times the minimal fines. This is one of the reasons I haven’t been to a movie theater in years. If you don’t suffer fools well it’s better to stay home.
Rtaylor
I could be wrong, but I always was under the impression that assault required “intent”. To just touch someone to get their attention has no intention of injuring the other person. The same as if you grabbed someone’s elbow if you were falling. If you intend to hurt them then that is assault.
I also got the impression that the instigator wanted the Police to charge the patron. So it was actually her that is pressing the charge and not the Police.
But I could be wrong.
Nope you are wrong pat. All it takes is contact or as rtaylor said getting in their personal space. We had a supervisor fired for basicly touching an employee on the shoulder. No assault ,no verbalations. I think it comes under hate crimes.
Gottal love those Australians! You go girl!
We midwesterners just seeth silently and slowly kill ourselves.
The generic definition of assault from FINDLAW
Assault/Battery
In most states, an assault/battery is committed when one person 1) tries to or does physically strike another, or 2) acts in a threatening manner to put another in fear of immediate harm. Many states declare that a more serious or “aggravated” assault/battery occurs when one 1) tries to or does cause severe injury to another, or 2) causes injury through use of a deadly weapon. Historically, laws treated the threat of physical injury as “assault”, and the completed act of physical contact or offensive touching as “battery,” but many states no longer differentiate between the two.
http://criminal.findlaw.com/crimes/a-z/assault_battery.html
I think that the first definition using the word STRIKE suggests there needs to be an intent. I broke my ankle and foot a couple of weeks ago when a woman lost her balance and stepped on it. It was an accident and she certainly didn’t mean to touch me, let alone break my ankle. There is no way, however, that I could ever conceive of suggesting this is an assault.
NOTE: I don’t see any suggestion of a sexual assault in this definition. For this post though I don’t think it matters.