Disabled LI woman files theater complaint

A Port Washington woman who claims she was not allowed to see a movie at Roosevelt Field mall because she uses a wheelchair filed a complaint Tuesday with the state Division of Human Rights.

An attorney for Danielle Napoli, 23, filed the discrimination complaint against the mall owner, Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, and AMC Entertainment Inc., based in Kansas City, Mo.

Napoli, who was paralyzed from the waist down following a car accident in 2008, went to AMC Loews Roosevelt Field 8 in East Garden City on the evening of March 31 to see "She's Out of My League" with two friends, according to the complaint.

When she tried to buy her ticket, she said in an interview, she was told that the theater for that movie was accessible only by stairs and she could only see the movie if she could take them. She said she was told no "other accommodations could be made." The ticket booth worker was speaking through a microphone so "everybody heard everything," she said of the other people in line.

Napoli said she felt "angry," especially since she had been looking forward to going out with her friends home from college for her birthday and was disappointed because she wasn't able to.

"I just hope it doesn't happen to someone else," she said.

Requests for comment from Simon and AMC Tuesday morning weren't returned.

On the AMC website, the Roosevelt theater is listed as having "wheelchair access."

"This is an blatant violation of state law and the Americans with Disabilities Act," said Napoli's attorney, Lenard Leeds of Carle Place. He said the state agency will begin an investigation and likely hold a hearing.