Matthew Santoni, The Examiner
2007-09-11 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

Abingdon, MD -

A 45-year-old man was beaten and robbed in front of his family in an Abingdon movie theater parking lot Friday by four men he shushed during a movie, police said.

The victim, an Edgewood man police did not identify, had watched “Rush Hour 3” Friday night with his family at the Regal Cinemas on Constant Friendship Boulevard.

Four teenagers sitting behind them were being loud and disruptive during the movie, so the man turned around and asked them to be quiet, said Sgt. Christina Presberry, spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.

“He thought that would be the end of the incident,” she said.

But as the man walked into the parking lot after the movie, the teens came up behind him and knocked him to the ground with a punch, then kicked and punched him in front of his wife, 16-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son, Presberry said.

As the teens ran away, one ducked back to take the man’s wallet, Presberry said. The victim called police to the parking lot at about 11:50 p.m. and was treated by paramedics at the scene.

Police describe the assailants as four black males in their teens, all wearing white T-shirts and blue denim shorts.

Investigators reviewed security camera footage from the theater, but the video quality was too poor to get additional descriptions, Presberry said.

A manager at the theater declined comment.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com