Toddler's Request for Movie Popcorn Ends in Charges

A two-month police investigation involving popcorn, a toddler, a movie theater, and The Last Jedi has resulted in child endangerment charges for a Long Island woman and her father. Police say Keri Karman, 28, got angry when a 2-year-old girl near her at the movies asked her mom for popcorn, leading to a confrontation in which Karman dumped the popcorn on the kid's head, reports the New York Post. Police say Karman also caused a bruise on the girl's head from the popcorn container. The incident took place Jan. 2, and last week police arrested Karman and her father, Charles, 61, who was with her at the movies. The elder Karman was charged because he failed to intervene, reports the Daily News.

The incident has led to accusations that both sides overreacted. “All she said was ‘popcorn.’ She didn’t even say a full sentence,” the girl's mother tells the Post. But the newspaper quotes a friend of Karman's who says the mother got mad when Karman asked her to quiet her child during the screening of the Star Wars film. "There is not an aggressive bone in Keri’s body.” At the Washington Post, Alex Horton writes that "we've been all there" when it comes to somebody talking during a movie. "But most people let a 2-year-old girl slide." (More movies stories.)