POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – A 27-year-old man was arrested Thursday, months after he attacked a 63-year-old man over movie theater seats in Pompano Beach, the Broward Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
Jesse Montez Thorton II, 27, faces one count of aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
The incident was reported shortly before 10 p.m. July 10 at the AMC Pompano Beach 18 movie theater at 2315 N. Federal Highway.
According to authorities, the victim and his wife had purchased VIP tickets that included assigned seating for a film.
“When (the victim) and his wife arrived at the movie theater, he noticed an unknown adult male and adult female in his seats,” BSO spokeswoman Claudinne Caro said in a news release. “(The victim) politely asked the subject, Jesse Montez Thorton II, to move from their seats. Witnesses said that’s when Thorton became hostile.”
Caro said video shows the victim losing his balance and falling down the steps before Thorton stands over him and repeatedly punches him in the face until witnesses rushed over to help the victim and pulled Thorton off him.
“I just don’t understand people, how they act that way -- there’s no civility anymore,” the victim told Local 10 News after the incident.
The victim said he simply told Thorton, “Excuse me, you guys are in our seats.”
“He said, ‘Go run to your wife, little boy.’ I said, ‘You’re the little boy for acting this way,’” the victim told Local 10.
Apparently, that set Thorton off as the victim says Thorton began yelling, “Do you want to fight?” before striking him.
“I was on the stairs and he just kept pounding away at my head, and I couldn’t get him off of me to do that,” he said.
Caro said Thorton and the woman he was with left the theater before deputies arrived and the victim was transported to a hospital to be treated for injuries to his head and face.
“BSO detectives worked this case for months,” Caro said. “The video and information about this callous attack received national and international media attention and generated leads, including an anonymous tip through Broward Crime Stoppers.”
Caro said detectives identified Thorton as the suspect in the attack and he was taken into custody Thursday with assistance from Fort Lauderdale police.
As of Friday morning, Thorton was being held at the Broward County Main Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond.