Three Georgia parents are demanding harsher consequences for an elderly couple they say physically assaulted and racially berated their children at a movie theater.
WJBF reports three Thomson teenagers, Tocara Darden, Makiyah Burnette and Marocah Murray, were leaving their local movie theater on April 20 when an elderly couple approached them. The exchange left two of the children physically hurt and all of them emotionally harmed, according to documents and statements from their parents.
The couple, Larry and Antonia Rader, were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, but the parents of the children are not satisfied.
The young girls and the couple were reportedly at the movie theater to see Pet Sematary. The alleged victims recounted to reporters that the event was temporarily halted after two adults told management that some kids were letting their friends in to see the movie for free.
After a brief visit from the establishment's supervisor, the movie continued. However, one of the elderly people in attendance was infuriated by the film's end.
According to reports, the Raders approached the three girls and accused them of partaking in the actions mentioned.
Parts of the exchange was caught on video by onlooking teens. The young person recording the interaction is heard laughing, but both involved parties appeared to take the issue far more seriously.
In the video, Antonia scolded the teenagers. "We have to respect each other," she said as she pointed toward them. Furthermore, she argued that their phones should not be used during a public viewing.
"You opened the door. I saw you open the exit door," she added, accusing the girls of letting in non-ticketed persons to the show.
As the kids verbally deny the incrimination, young witnesses giggled at the woman. Antonia appeared to grow visibly disturbed and angry as her husband, Larry, attempted to defuse the situation.
News Video Clip reports Antonia continued to lash out at the girls while being escorted to their car.
"Hush! Hush! You hush! You're a bunch of monkeys," she said as she pushed away from her partner. "You're going to end up on the streets doing drugs."
The rest of the events are not seen on screen but allegedly resulted in physical evidence.
Tocara told news reporters that Larry was the first to become violent and hit her in the face.
"It was swollen that morning, but it went down," she noted.
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Tocara's mother, Sharell Yarbert, said that she received a text message from her daughter nearly fifteen minutes before the exchange. The mother had reportedly just arrived on the scene at the time of the incident and saw Larry hit her daughter. She stepped in between the girls and their alleged aggressors.
Makiyah's mother, Kamiskia Few, echoed the sentiments and showed proof of her daughter's visit to the hospital, which resulted in an eye contusion. The 14-year-old asserts that Antonia also assaulted her which led to the injury that remained visible days after the altercation.
"You harassed these kids," Few expressed. "You followed these kids. You put your hands on these kids. It would be a different story if it was two grown people."
Marocah's mother, Shanta Bly, insists the alleged assaulters should receive more than a disorderly conduct charge.
"If I whoop one of my kids in public I would go to jail for child abuse or negligence or whatever the case may be," she added.
Yarbert echoed her sentiments. "They called them monkeys and said they're going to grow up to be drug dealers and crack heads. Who talks like that?" she vocalized, adding that she wants a harsher punishment.
The parents expressed that all of their children are respectable and high-performing students who are active in sports and extracurricular activities at school. They're seeking to have the Raders charged with a hate crime.
The Raders claim that they were not the initiators. Larry told reporters that his wife had only told the teens they should be disciplined and denied that he heard her refer to them as "monkeys," as the tape contradicts.
"One of the larger, older teenage girls ran and knocked my wife over. Ran over her, pushed her down," Larry recalled. "And I bent over to try to protect her from being kicked and all that, as I got up, one of them — either the same or another one — knocked me down."
All three girls, who deny the Raders' story, assert that they were not the attendees who snuck in unpaid viewers and were disappointed with the way the situation was handled.
"[I'm] surprised that an older couple would really try to fight us and we're so young and didn't say anything to them or start with them and wasn't disrespectful or nothing," said Makiyah.
"All the students at school keep asking us why we let white people hit us in our face," added Moracah, embarrassed by the chain of events.
"I felt like they were being racist," Tocara added, confident that the incident was racially motivated. "I didn't really care about that part because I know who I am."
Watch the video of the exchange that led to the physical altercation below.
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