Woman Dumps Popcorn On Toddler, Hits Her With Container At Theater

A Long Island woman was arrested after she allegedly dumped her popcorn on a toddler sitting next to her at a movie theater and then hit the child in the head with the bucket, reports said Saturday.

Keri Karman, 25, reportedly got so upset when the two-year-old girl sitting next to her at a "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" movie screening asked for popcorn that she allegedly dumped a tub of the snack on the child’s head, police confirmed.

The alleged incident took place Jan. 2 at the AMC Dine-In in Levittown, where Keri was watching the movie along with her father, Charles Karman, 61, who investigators said did nothing to intervene or stop the one-sided food fight. The pair was arrested Friday in connection to the January incident, according to reports.

Keri allegedly became angry as she sat next to Celia Riggs and Riggs’ two-year-old daughter, Harley, after the toddler asked for food during a showing of the PG-13 blockbuster.

“All she said was ‘popcorn.’ She didn’t even say a full sentence,” Riggs, 28, told the New York Post.

When the mother told Keri not speak to her daughter, she reportedly started to yell and curse, police said. She also put her middle finger up to the child’s cheek, Riggs alleged.

Keri then allegedly proceeded to dump the bucket of popcorn over the kid’s head, hit her with the hardened paper container before she and her father fled the theater through the fire exit. The child began to cry after the alleged incident.

“I just wanted to get my daughter out to safety,” Riggs said. “I ran out with her. She was crying a lot.”

A doctor examined the toddler after she said her head hurt and determined she had a contusion, police stated.

The Karmans, both from Baldwin, New York, were charged with endangering the welfare of a child and along with that were issued appearance tickets, police said.

The mother said her daughter has never been disruptive earlier.

"No one else complained about her. If she was this screaming monster child, someone else might have said something, and between the adults she was with, someone would have taken her out," Riggs said.

Since the incident, Riggs said she noticed character changes in her two-year-old daughter.

"She says, ‘My head, my head,’ when she looks at popcorn and is afraid of strangers. She’ll grab me and hide when the waiter comes up," Riggs said.

One theater worker who was aware of the incident suggested Keri got her bad manners from her father, claiming the man once had become disruptive while arguing over a seat at the theater.

“He is a troublemaker,” the worker told the New York Post.

After the alleged incident, Riggs held her child in her lap and tried to calm her down while she was crying, as they waited for the authorities to arrive.

“The mother was extremely frustrated that [they] did that,” a woman who was working the night of the incident said.