HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Marcie Ackley and her son Thomas Ackley, who is in a wheelchair, could not wait to see "Furious 7" on its opening weekend.
They went to Studio Movie Grill, in Copperfield in northwest Harris County, on Saturday. But they said that when they got there 10 minutes before the movie started, there were no seats left for wheelchair users even though there were other seats still open.
"I asked for two adult tickets and notified the young lady at the counter that we had a wheelchair. She advised me that those seats were already sold," said Achley.
She told KPRC 2 that she asked to speak to the manager and was told that he could not move other guests around in order to accommodate her. She said this was surprising because this had never been an issue.
"The example he gave me: it was the same as having a handicapped bathroom stall," Achley said. "It's marked, but it doesn't have to be used by the handicapped."
The company released the following statement:
"Studio Movie Grill takes these kinds of matters very seriously. One of our pillars involves our outreach programs, especially for families raising children with special needs and they are extremely important to our culture. We are fully ADA (American With Disabilities Act) compliant and offer regular special needs screenings. Thus, it was extremely disappointing to receive your email. From speaking with our team at SMG Copperfield, we understand that this guest arrived after the movie had started on opening weekend and the show time was all but sold out with no handicapped accessible seats available. After offering our sincere apologies, the guest demanded that we remove someone from a handicapped seat but unfortunately we had no reason to believe that the guests in those seats were not also handicapped. We are of course extremely sorry that we were unable to accommodate this parent and her son."