GREENVILLE — A North Carolina religious and civil rights leader has filed a lawsuit against AMC Theaters over claims it improperly removed him from a Greenville theater a year ago.
Bishop William Barber II scheduled an announcement about the suit in Raleigh on Thursday, according to the law office of Harry Daniels, the Atlanta-based firm representing Barber.
The firm filed the suit over the bishop’s removal from the AMC Fire Tower 12 on Dec. 26, 2023, during a showing of “The Color Purple” Barber attended with his mother, then 90.
Barber said he was asked to leave the theater by managers because he brought a tall chair with him to sit in. Barber suffers from a form of arthritis that makes it painful to stoop low or stand from a low chair.
Barber said theater staff, who called security personnel and the Greenville Police Department, threatened to press trespassing charges and violated his rights under Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Daniels represented the family of Andrew Brown after the man was shot and killed by three Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies on April 21, 2021, in Elizabeth City. In that case, Pasquotank County and Brown’s family reached a $3 million settlement.