A woman who was trampled by moviegoers after a man caused a panic during a 2012 showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a Miami Beach theater has been awarded $1.7 million for her injuries.
A Miami-Dade jury recently gave the award to 34-year-old Maria Navas in her civil lawsuit stemming from the July 31, 2012 incident at the Regal Cinemas on Lincoln Road.
NBC 6 reached out to Regal for comment Friday but didn't immediately hear back.
Navas was on a first date at the theater when two men got into an argument. According to Miami Beach Police, one of the men left the theater and returned wearing black gloves and screamed "this is it!"
His actions caused a panic inside the theater and sent a hundred moviegoers fleeing for the exits, according to an arrest affidavit. Navas was trampled by the crowd and suffered a fracture to her right foot that required two surgeries that put 18 pieces of plates and screws in her foot. She now says she has permanent damages.
"I think about it every day," Navas said Friday. "I would be in a different place in my life right now then waiting four years for this to end."
The incident happened just days after 12 people were killed and dozens injured in a shooting in an Aurora, Colorado theater during a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."
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Navas' attorneys argued that theater staff did nothing to diffuse the argument and didn't stop the man from returning to the theater. They also said that the theater should have had heightened security measures in light of the Colorado incident.
"The evidence showed that they failed to do anything at all, especially in light of the Aurora situation," attorney Jason Brenner said.
The man arrested in the incident was later sentenced to four months' probation.
