[ort888]

Disabled 7-year-old ejected from theater

By Dave Richardson
Times Herald-Record
[email protected]

Updated: Read more on this story

Town of Wallkill – If you're a 7-year-old kid with cerebral palsy and autism, you have to take your laughs anywhere you can get them. Just don't have too much fun at the local movie theater, or you might get thrown out.

That's what happened to young Anthony Pratti this week. To say his parents are upset about it would be an understatement. Anthony, who uses a wheelchair, was with his parents, his sister and his grandmother at the Loews Cineplex theaters in the Galleria at Crystal Run Sunday, watching a 1:15 p.m. matinee of the G-rated film "March of the Penguins." The family sat in the wheelchair section provided by the theater. Anthony was having a good time, said his mom, Gina Pratti.

"He was laughing, but he really wasn't much louder than any of the other kids," she said. About 15 minutes into the film, one of the theater's managers approached the family, she said. "He said our son was laughing too loud," Pratti said. "My husband told him Anthony didn't understand, that he was disabled, but that we'd try to quiet him down."

Not good enough, apparently – the manager brusquely told the family that Anthony had to leave, Pratti said. Outraged, the family followed the manager to the lobby, where they were told they all didn't have to leave – just Anthony, Pratti said.

Pratti was dumbfounded. "I said to him, what are we supposed to do, wheel him outside and leave him there?" she said. The manager refunded the family's ticket purchase and sent them on their way, she said.

Pratti and her husband have spent the past three days making phone calls and sending e-mails, trying to get someone – anyone – from Loews to give them an explanation.

"Not one person from Loews has called me back," Pratti said. When contacted by the Times Herald-Record yesterday, a representative of Loews corporate headquarters said the company is concerned by Pratti's story, and is looking into Sunday's events. The company says it will issue a statement today. Pratti has spoken with attorneys about the incident, but isn't sure she wants to pursue any legal action.

Meanwhile, Pratti says she hopes Loews will do whatever it takes to make amends. "This was only the third movie Anthony had ever seen, and now we're afraid to go back because they might throw us out again," Pratti said. Explanations aside, Pratti has a simple message for the manager she says publicly humiliated her son: "Shame on you."

[turtle777]

That's sad. Very sad. To many a$$holes out there...

-t

[ort888]

I'm having a hard time even imagining how that must have gone down. Another sad fact is that someone in the theater probably complained about him. Who is that person? Yikes.

[turtle777]

Yeah, that almost cries for a lawsuit for discrimination...

-t

[budster101]

Thanks for the "Feel Good story"... jackhole. If I wanted to be depressed, I'd just read your old posts....

Get the effing title changed of your thread. It sucks!

[Shaddim]

Doesn't sound like we've gotten the whole story (there's always at least 2 more sides), still sucks none-the-less.

Me? I hate it when people bringing their cranky/noisy brats to an evening movie, and usually the movie's rated R. Leave them at home, dammit!

[Millennium]

I'm torn about this, to be honest. It's a shame the child was thrown out of the theater, but at the same time, disability-access laws are founded and defended in large part on the concept that access for the disabled does not detract from access or use by non-disabled persons. But when a person's disability really does detract from access for the non-disabled -such as unusually loud laughter preventing others' ability to hear a movie- what do you do?

I'm not saying that the theater was necessarily right to throw out the child. I don't know, to be honest. I'm just pointing out that this isn't as cut and dried as it might initially seem.

[AB^2=BCxAC]

But still, no one has heard this kid laugh except the theatre manager and the audience there, and despite what the mom says, the facts speak otherwise...

Applying O.'s R., teh simplest answer is teh most likely: the kid had a SUPER annoying laugh.

1. Somebody probably got up to complain.

2. The manager heard it for himself.

3. Nobody else in the theatre said, "no, he's not annoying, let him stay."

From this I have to conclude that the laugh was at least as bad as a baby crying. It may not be fair to eject the kid, but would it be fair to the rest of the audience who paid good money?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by MacNStein

Me? I hate it when people bringing their cranky/moisey brats to an evening movie, and usually the movie's rated R. Leave them at home, dammit!

I gully agree

But in this case, 1:15pm and a G-rated movie is a different league...

-t

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by turtle777

I gully agree

But in this case, 1:15pm and a G-rated movie is a different league...

-t

thta's why I said evening, and R-rated. If it's in the afternoon, and especially a "G" movie, I fully expect it (and won't waste my time going).

[ort888]

Originally Posted by budster101

Thanks for the "Feel Good story"... jackhole. If I wanted to be depressed, I'd just read your old posts....

Get the effing title changed of your thread. It sucks!

Why so touchy? Is this the theater you work at or something?

[budster101]

Look , I was just upset that the title of the thread was misleading.

[GranolaBoy]

We went to see War of the Worlds, and there was a young boy with a couple behind us. During the trailers he was asking questions and stuff and we were sure we were going to have a problem with him. Amazingly, he was quiet the entire time. Seemed like a really great kid because afterwards he was talking about the movie and was really animated.

However, about 15 minutes into the movie, the couple next to me kept talking, and talking, and talking. And then the woman right next to me kept laughing hysterically at the most inappropriate moments (hello, people are getting vaporized?!) I finally had to move to my wife's other side to get away from this lady. I could tell she was insulted, but I didn't care.

That pretty much sums up my experience: Kids turn out to be pretty cool (until age 16 or so) in the theater and adults tend to be obnoxious.

[olePigeon]

I don't know...

I absolutely f*cking hate it when parents bring in little kids who whine, cry, squeal, and yell through an entire movie. What pisses me off the most, was when I went to see The Exorcist (re-release director's cut, not the E:III which sucked big time) and some dumb lady brought her 4-year-old and 8-year-old kids.

They were screaming at the top of their lungs for 1/2 the movie and people kept whispering to her to quiet her children or just leave. She got all snitty about it until my brother stood up, yelled back at her, "SHUT THOSE F*CKING KIDS UP OR TAKE THEM OUTSIDE!!!" Probably 1/2 the audience clapped and the lady finally left.

Who takes little kids to horror movies?

Now, as for disabled children... meh. That's a hard one.

[budster101]

What's so hard about it? He was being obnoxious probably. If it bothers 10 people, better to give 3 their money back and ask them to leave.

My wife and I brought my two nieces and nephew to see Jurasic Park, they were pretty young but enjoyed the movie and didn't utter a peep. Now on the other hand, there were two kids of the same age, hiding under the seats when the T-rex came out and were crying and screaming bloody murder. They had to be taken outside...

[air]

i think there are generally understood movie laws like being quiet, not smoking, and not littering.

many people demand complete silence when watching movies. no matter what the rating / time. so when those "laws" are violated, they feel the need to do something dramatic.

i guess in this case, it was for some people what shouting into a megaphone at a ballet would be.

[JoshuaZ]

I wish they'd throw people out who answer their cell phones during a movie and say "I can't talk now, I'm in a movie." Seriously happened to me this summer. During Batman. Damn him to hell.

[m a d r a]

i hate it when you get stuck behind someone wearing a top hat ...er... in victorian times

[budster101]

Oh, yeah. I hate that too.

[Face Ache]

Just take the kid to Jim Carey movies, where people expect to be annoyed.

[Doofy]

This is why I only ever go to the Film Theatre, which is a small university thing full of film geeks who're deathly serious about film. Never get anyone talking, never get anyone taking kids, never get anyone even messing with food packaging.

I did have to get a bit threatening with some idiot at a recent Rush gig though. Seems he thought I'd gone to listen to him and his friend talk about their social lives, rather than hear a bunch of Canadians play some music. A quick "shut up or I'll kill you both" seemed to work.

But hey. Kids' film, kids' theatre, middle of the day. Kids are gonna laugh.

[dreilly1]

I'm not necessarily sure if I can fault people for complaining. We don't really know how much of a distraction the kid was being. And if he was being a distraction, the people who complained don't necessarily know he's mentally disabled. One could make an argument that if the kid isn't mature enough to sit through a movie quietly, whether or not he has mental problems, maybe he shouldn't go. I will admit that I don't expect total silence in a movie theater anymore, especially for a afternoon showing of a G-rated movie.

But for the manager to say that only the kid needed to leave is pretty stupid. Again, we don't know exactly what he said, but if he really implied that the parents ought to just wheel the kid in the lobby and keep him there until the movie is over, he ought to be fired just for that.

[wdlove]

Very sad. I hope that Pattie will be able to resolve this matter with Lowes.