A 27-year-old Florida man has been arrested for the merciless July beating of a 63-year-old moviegoer that left him with a broken nose and blood-soaked shirt.
Jesse Montez Thorton was collared after a months-long investigation into the attack thanks to an anonymous tip given when the gruesome beatdown went viral, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
Thorton was busted in Fort Lauderdale on Sept. 28 and charged with aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
The victim, Marc Cohen, has said Thorton and his girlfriend were lounging in the VIP seats he bought for him and his wife for a July 10 showing of “Insidious: The Red Door.”
With the seat-stealer giving him a hostile stare, Cohen said he opted to walk away and sit elsewhere — just to turn back and reply to being taunted.
““As I’m walking away, he said ‘go run to your wife little boy,” the victim told NBC Miami.
“I turned around and I said ‘you know I’m not the one who’s being a little boy, you took my seats and you didn’t apologize or you didn’t say thank you and I let you keep them.’”
With the two men now standing face-to-face, Thorton began socking the victim in the face as other movie-goers looked on in horror.
“Thorton is seen standing above Cohen repeatedly punching him in the face until witnesses rushed to Cohen’s aid and pulled Thorton off him,” cops said in a release.
Cohen said he was defenseless as his assailant rained down punches.
“I fell over the stairs and as soon as I fell down the stairs, it was like a boxer being against the ropes, this guy just went to town on me,” he told the outlet soon after the attack.
In addition to a broken nose, Cohen also suffered serious cuts that required stitches.
Cops said Thorton and his female friend hastily left the theater after the beating — but not before they were captured on surveillance cameras that aided the hunt.
