Man charged with slapping loud kid in Kent theater

An Auburn man accused of smacking a loud 10-year-old at a Kent movie theater could face months in jail if convicted of the felony assault charge now filed against him.

King County prosecutors contend 21-year-old Yong Hyun Kim knocked out one of the boy’s teeth after the child and several other youths refused to quiet down and stop throwing popcorn in April.

According to charging documents, Kim admitted to hitting the boy and appeared ashamed when confronted by police with the boy’s age. Kim allegedly said he thought the boy was an adult when he slapped him in the face.

The Associated Press reports the incident occured during a screening of "Titanic" in 3-D.

At 10:40 p.m. on April 11, Kent police were called to the AMC Theater at 426 Ramsay Way following a complaint that a man had attacked a child there.

Officers arrived to find to find the 10-year-old, his mother and several friends in the theater lobby. The boy was bleeding from the nose and missing a tooth.

The boy told police he wasn’t sure why Kim struck him. He said he was seated in the theater when a man with “long hair and … 3D glasses” stepped over a row of seats and confronted him.

According to the boy’s account, Kim said something to the effect of, “You know what, I paid a lot of money to see this movie” and punched him in the face.

For his part, Kim said the boy and others were talking loudly during the movie and throwing popcorn, some of which landed on him and his girlfriend, a Kent detective told the court.

Kim told police he confronted the group about their behavior, to no avail, the detective continued.

“The group laughed at him and did not quiet down,” the detective said in court documents. “Yong (Kim) said he hit one of the subjects in the face with an open hand.”

“I got so mad that it just happened,” Kim told police, according to charging documents.

Kim was arrested and later gave a lengthy statement to police. The detective noted Kim claimed he didn’t know the boy was so young until police informed him.

“When (the arresting officer) asked Yong (Kim) if he was aware that the person he struck was 10 years old … Yong hung his head down and said he thought the person was a grown man,” the detective told the court.

Kim has been charged with second-degree assault, a felony. Kim, who has no criminal record, was briefly jailed and has since been released.

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Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.