https://www.facebook.com/ashley.jimenez.5205/videos/10106481049980763/
What was supposed to be a family-friendly outing at the movies went south for a Black Philadelphia couple who say a theater manager called police on them following a verbal dispute over a refund last Friday.
The subsequent response, which drew nearly half a dozen police officers, was filmed and shared to Facebook, where it’s already received 50,000 views, according to The Inquirer.
Ismael Jimenez said he and his wife Ashley asked for their money back Friday after a loud beeping noise continually interrupted an evening showing of “Jurassic World.” The couple left their children — except for their youngest, a 3-year-old — inside the theater while they walked to the front to request a refund.
A cinema manager agreed to the refund but barred the couple from re-entering the theater to retrieve their four eldest sons, who were still inside watching the movie with two of their friends, the newspaper reported. Despite their protests, Jimenez said the manager refused and called the cops when his wife went back in to get their kids.
“… A Black person’s considered a threat immediately,” said Jimenez, 36, who teaches at Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School. “So therefore, if they’re defiant to you, instead of actually dealing with the issue, you’re calling the police.”
The couple was met by officers once Ashley returned with the kids, during which she pulled out her cellphone and started recording the encounter.
“We’re being hauled out of the movie theater right now because we asked for a refund regarding a situation where we could not hear the movie,” she says in the five-minute clip. It wasn’t long before more officers showed up.
Speaking to The Inquirer, Jimenez said his oldest son, 11, whom he has talked to about the potential dangers of interactions with police, grew so scared that he ran to the bathroom to vomit.
“He was worried that I was going to get hurt,” he said.
One of the officers was eventually able to de-escalate the situation and helped the family get a refund on their concessions.
Friday’s episode is just the latest in a string of incidents where the police were called on African-Americans for completely arbitrary reasons. This past weekend, a San Francisco woman dubbed “Permit Patty” called the cops on an 8-year-old Black girl for selling water without a permit.
