A string of attacks across the country are being investigated as part of the "knockout game." Among them:
A 78-year-old woman strolling in her neighborhood in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. She was punched in the head by a stranger and tumbled to the ground.
In Washington, a 32-year-old woman was swarmed by teenagers on bikes, and one clocked her in the face.
Outside of Philadelphia, police in Lower Merion Township have made two arrests in connection with an attack on a man who was out walking his dog.
Republican Assemblyman Jim Tedisco of Schenectady, New York is proposing a bill to make the violent game a gang assault with a sentence of up to 25 years. Youths would be charged as adults. The bill may be the first of its kind in the nation, according to the national conference of State legislatures.
"These twisted and cowardly thugs are preying on innocent bystanders and they don't care if the victims are young, old, a man or woman," GOP state Assemblyman Jim Tedisco told The Associated Press in announcing what would be one of the first bills like it in the nation. "Life isn't a video game. These are real people whose lives are not only being put in jeopardy but in many cases destroyed."
Tedisco says his measure is intended to stop the game and avoid more serious injuries. Participants try to punch a stranger so hard they are rendered unconscious, often while others record the attack. Tedisco's bill will also include prison time for those who record or watch the assaults.
Authorities and psychologists say the concept has been around for years and it's played mostly by impulsive teenage boys looking to impress their friends.
"It's hard to excuse this behavior, there's no purpose to this," said Jeffrey Butts, a psychologist specializing in juvenile delinquency at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "When someone runs into a store and demands money, you can sort of understand why they're doing it, desperation, whatever. But just hitting someone for the sheer thrill of seeing if you can knock someone out is just childish."
At least two deaths have been linked to the game this year and police have seen a recent spike in similar attacks.
New York City police have deployed additional officers to city neighborhoods where at least seven attacks occurred in the past few weeks, including the assault on the 78-year-old woman. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said some are smacked, some are more seriously assaulted, and some harassed. The department's hate crimes task force is investigating, because some attacks have been against Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn. Thursday, members of the Guardian Angels handed out safety tips to residents in Midwood, Brooklyn.
In Washington, D.C., police were investigating two assaults in the past week, both of which resulted in minor injuries but not unconsciousness.
One victim, Phoebe Connolly, of Brattleboro, Vt., said she was randomly punched in the face by a teenager while riding her bike during a work-related visit to Washington last Friday. Connolly, who is 32 and works with teenagers in her job, said the blow knocked her head to the side and bloodied her nose.
"I don't know what the goal was," she said. "There wasn't any attempt to take anything from me."
A recent media blitz about the game circulating on television stations around the country isn't helping, Connolly and experts said, especially because images are being repeatedly broadcast of victims in a dead fall, smacking the ground with a limp thud. The viral footage comes from older incidents: In one instance from 2012, 50-year-old Pittsburg English teacher James Addlespurger was punched in the face and falls to the curb. The image was caught on surveillance cameras, and a 15-year-old was arrested. Another video shows a woman punched from behind.
"The behavior of the sudden assault of someone who seems helpless has appealed to the idiotic impulsive quality of adolescence forever," said Butts. "But in the last 10 years, they've giving a name to this, and there are now bragging rights beyond your immediate circle, when this is on television and online."
In September in Jersey City, two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old were charged as juveniles in the murder of 46-year-old Ralph Eric Santiago. He was found Sept. 10 with his neck broken and his head wedged between iron fence posts. Hudson County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Gene Rubino has said that his office believes the teens were playing the game.
In late May in Syracuse, a group of teenagers attempting to knock Michael Daniels out with a single punch wound up beating and stomping him to death, according to police. A 16-year-old was found guilty of manslaughter, and his 13-year-old co-defendant pleaded guilty to assault, admitting he started the fatal beating by trying to knock out Daniels with a single punch. Both were sentenced to 18 months behind bars.
And earlier in May, Elex Murphy, now 20, was sentenced to life in prison plus 25 years in St. Louis for killing a Vietnamese immigrant as part the game in 2011.
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Information from The Associated Press
