MIAMI KUNG FOOLERY

MOVIE ABOUT KARATE INTERRUPTED BY A REAL FIGHT IN THE AUDIENCE

Miami Herald, The - July 1, 1984

Author: Herald Staff

THERE WAS MORE ACTION in the aisles than on the screen when a fight erupted during a June 22 showing of the movie Karate Kid at the Marina Theater , 18741 Biscayne Blvd., police said.

According to a police report, officers arrested Mark Richard Sailer, 20, and Steven Carlton Sailer, 21, both of 1745 NE 174th St., and Kevin Keith Yantz, 19, of 2158 NE 180th St. Mark Sailer was charged with battery and disorderly conduct, while Steven Sailer and Yantz were charged with disorderly conduct, according to the police report. All three were taken to Dade County Jail.

Police said the three men were sitting in the front row of the theater ’s center area of seats during the 10 p.m. showing of Karate Kid, a movie about a young man’s success in the ancient art of self-defense.

When the three suspects became boisterous, the fighting moved from the screen to the audience. "The subjects (were) continously yelling profane language, laughing and causing so much disorder, the entire audience began to yell at them to quiet down," the police report says. Finally, Mark Sailer stood up, made an obscene gesture at the audience and threw a cupful of ice that struck a 20-year-old woman in the face. Steven Sailer and Yantz also stood up, made gestures and yelled profanities.

Five men in the audience got up and a fistfight began. Police broke it up.

"Order was restored and the movie restarted," the police report says.

18-YEAR-OLD DROWNS
Miami Herald, The (FL) - September 18, 1984

Author: MARY LOU FOY Miami Herald Staff


Authorities surround the body of a young man who drowned Monday in a lake south of Miami International Airport while attempting a martial-arts water routine, according to Miami police.

Antonio Lee, 18, of 2106 SW 58th Ave., and a friend had just come from the Miracle Theater where they saw the movie Ninja III, The Domination.

Lee and his friend, in black martial- arts attire, were at a lake behind an apartment building at 5501 NW Seventh St. when Lee jumped in the water with a reed to imitate a routine he saw in the movie , police said.

He went under in 20 to 30 feet of water. When Lee didn’t surface, rescue units were called to the scene. An hour later the body was pulled from the lake.