Just one more reason I don't go to the movies anymore...

The Daily Telegraph | Arrested for asking for quiet in cinema:Arrested for asking for quiet in cinema

By NICK PAPPS

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.

Pauline Clayton was enjoying a matinee screening of Brokeback Mountain in a Texas cinema when her day suddenly turned ugly.

The former Sunshine Coast councillor said about halfway through the movie, a mobile phone started ringing nearby, a woman answered it and started talking.

"I put one finger up to my mouth to shoosh her," Ms Clayton said.

"She ignored me - I then leaned across and touched her with three or four fingers on the top of her arm."

When the "very large" woman failed to end her call, Ms Clayton again touched her on the shoulder and that was when the woman exploded.

Ms Clayton said the woman stood up over her, started shouting expletives at her and then stormed out of the cinema, in the town of Webster, just outside Houston.

A short time later two Texas police officers walked into the cinema and escorted Ms Clayton out.

She said the police took her to the food bar and explained that the woman had accused Ms Clayton of "invading her private space". The woman had made a complaint of assault because Ms Clayton had touched her.

"They were very apologetic," Ms Clayton said.

"They were very uncomfortable."

Ms Clayton said the officers had tried to dissuade the woman from making a complaint and had even told the woman that if she did make the complaint, police would charge the woman with disorderly conduct and using a profanity for her outburst in the cinema.

The woman refused to back down and not only was Ms Clayton charged, but the woman is now also due in court after being charged over her behaviour.

Ms Clayton was issued a citation and will appear in a Texas court next week to answer the charge.

With the help of an off-duty police officer who saw the fracas, she is hoping to escape with only a fine.

In the meantime Ms Clayton said she was hoping to get back to see the second half of Brokeback Mountain.

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.

She said she had been told a conviction would not affect her chances of re-entering the US. Police said it was a "little matter" and they would not be notifying US immigration authorities about any conviction.