Five arrested after near-riot outside Bradenton movie theater

Four teenagers and a 20-year-old woman were arrested after a disturbance outside a Bradenton movie theater Christmas night.

Deputies were called to the Royal Palm Movie Theater just before 10 p.m. and found that Frederico Freire and his wife Katherine has been assaulted by two juveniles, according to the Manatee Sheriff’s Office.

Both had suffered minor injuries.

As deputies began to investigate a crowd of over 100 people gathered outside the theater.

After making several arrests the theater’s manager asked deputies to remove anyone who did not have a ticket or a reason to stay.

One teen was asked several times to leave and refused, so a deputy attempted to arrest him, investigators said.

Deputies said at some point 20 year-old Destiny McNeil, a relative of the teen, and a 2nd teen attempted to intervene and prevent the arrest.

That teen allegedly refused repeated requests to leave and had to be tasered. Both were arrested.

At that point a crowd over 300 gathered and deputies began to disperse the crowd.

No other arrests were made, but one of the deputies’ patrol cars had been damaged by one of the juvenile suspects as he was being arrested.