A couple has been banned from Planet Fitness after video footage showed them harassing and later assaulting a woman at a North Texas gym. Reddit user u/OkChef951 shared cell phone video captured by his wife, who was the victim of the alleged race-fueled assault at the gym chain that prides itself as a “no judgment” space.
“This was the second encounter with the man you see in the video,” u/OkChef951 tells MySA, referencing a previous incident that occurred about three months ago. “She says this man came up to her and started berating her to get off, so she got off.”
After the following incident, the Reddit user says he confronted the man and told him not to speak to his wife like that.
In the video shared on Reddit Thursday, April 27, the woman’s legs can be seen on a machine while she asks the elderly couple about them staring at her. The man, who can be seen on the right side, can be heard saying, “We’re both waiting on you” while standing with his hand on his hip. Promptly after, the victim turns the camera to the older woman, who then steps forward, raises her hand at the victim, and appears to wipe the woman’s head with a cloth.
The six-second video doesn’t show what comes next, but in the Reddit post the man says his wife filed a police report in response to the assault.
“This time my wife remembers him, so she refuses, so they both stand there and berate her again,” the man says, adding that his wife felt threatened and started recording the encounter. “That’s when she smacks her phone and knocks it from her hand. What you don’t see in the video is her husband also decides to hit [my wife] and that’s what got them the assault misdemeanor ticket.”
“Update: cops came, saw gym camera footage gave them ticket for assault,” u/OkChef951 wrote in the comments. He also wrote that the Bedford location banned the couple from all Planet Fitness locations.
Folks on Reddit were unsatisfied by the consequences passed on to the couple and were sympathetic toward the woman at the center of the video.
“Ticket for assault? Idk anything about the law but i would think that would be a criminal charge of some sort?” questioned u/Kadllama.
“Wtf is wrong with people. I’m sorry this happened,” shared u/normajean8080.
“A ticket??? How are they still walking the streets? Someone better come get their grams and pop pop!” u/moodybluegirl wrote.
“I hate to see my city like this. It’s just embarrassing,” said u/Accomplished-Yam-100. “I’m sorry your wife had to endure this type of treatment. Please be careful and take care of each other.”
The couple allegedly lied to Planet Fitness staff and police, who were able to confirm that both the man and woman assaulted the victim through video footage.
“I was honestly shocked he only got a ticket, it made me very angry people can act this way and suffer minimum consequences,” the husband tells MySA.
Others expressed how the couple’s behavior was unjustified.
“Speaking as a long-time gym rat, I’ve never assaulted anyone to get onto a machine, whether they were taking forever or not,” admitted u/fxckfxckgames.
“planet fitness has multiple leg press machines. even if she had been sitting at it for an hour, just go find another one,” u/berryfarmer reasoned. “these boomers won’t be putting any serious weight on the machine anyway”
“Is that the only damn exercise these old bags can do at that moment?” asked u/therealmarcosftw. “Assault is assault. No excuses.”
Source: mysanantonio
