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Charges dropped against woman arrested in theater altercation that prompted viral video

Melanie Carter leaves the Allegheny County Courthouse on Thursday. (Photo by Megan Guza/TribLIVE)

PITTSBURGH — All charges were dropped against a Wilkinsburg woman who was arrested during an altercation at a North Versailles movie theater last year.

Melanie Carter, 36, was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and defiant trespass after filming the theater manager and a police officer who were throwing a group of girls out of the theater.

RELATED: Manager fired, woman charged after movie theater altercation goes viral

"I didn't know if I was going to survive that attack," Carter said Thursday to WPXI news partner TribLIVE. "But I knew that if I did, that it was my duty to say something about it."

Carter’s video of the incident went viral not long after the incident at Phoenix Theaters North Versailles Stadium 18 in February.

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Carter said the manager referred to the girls as animals, and when she questioned why he would do that, he replies, “Because you’re behaving like an animal.”

Officer Christopher Kelly then told Carter to leave. When she refused, he forced her to the ground because she was resisting, according to the criminal complaint.

"What happens when we defend ourselves, what happens when we defend black women and girls? We get thrown to the ground, knee in our chest," Carter told TribLIVE.