Man, 18, charged in leaf blower scare in Newport Beach movie theater

Orange County prosecutors filed charges Thursday against an 18-year-old Newport Beach man who authorities say was involved in a prank in which moviegoers were scared by the revving of a leaf blower in a theater.

Colin Hunter Davis is charged with three misdemeanor counts of participating in a rout and unlawful assembly, disturbing the peace and trespassing to injure property, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Authorities assert Davis entered the Edwards Big Newport 6 cinema near Fashion Island on Aug. 8 without paying admission and opened the emergency exit door of a theater during a showing of the thriller “The Gift.”

Around that time someone entered the theater and revved a leaf blower, triggering panic among those inside. Several patrons suffered injuries, including a broken toe, from being knocked to the ground as fearful moviegoers — who thought the blower was a weapon — scattered in the rush to leave.

Newport Beach police said at the time that there were four “persons of interests” in the case, three of whom were minors.

Authorities said Davis and the three minors turned themselves in shortly after investigators posted surveillance photos of them taken at an Irvine In-N-Out Burger, where the group is believed to have pointed a leaf blower at bystanders earlier on the evening of the theater prank.

If convicted, Davis could face a maximum sentence of a year in jail. He is expected to be arraigned Nov. 18 in Orange County Superior Court. He is not currently in custody.

It is unclear whether any of the minors will face criminal charges.