Trio of Hackensack 'knockout game' assaults within 15 minutes

HACKENSACK (WABC) -- Police are warning the residents of a New Jersey town to be on alert after a man randomly attacked three people in three separate assaults within 15 minutes of each other.

And at least one of the incidents was caught on surveillance video.

The knockout game attacks happened Monday night in Hackensack.

The victim who was seen on video was a 57-year-old man from East Orange who had just been discharged from the hospital, which is located right across the street from where he was punched.

The video shows the man crossing Essex Street, where he is punched square in the face by a man who just walked out of a convenience store. The thunderous and unprovoked right hook knocked the victim unconscious and left him bleeding from the head in a driveway.

He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and is lucky to be alive.

The suspect is over 6-feet tall and has a muscular build. He was wearing a Brooklyn Nets baseball cap. After attacking the first victim, he dropped his cell phone, picked it up and calmly walked away as others came outside to call for help.

The suspect also went after two other victims nearby, one another man in his 50s and the third a Hackensack resident in his 20s.

The attacks signal a call to action for lawmakers, prompting Assemblyman Gordon Johnson to co-sponsor a bill to toughen the penalties for cold-blooded attacks such as this one.

"Instead of it being a simple assault or an assault, we make it a second-degree crime, which has a sentence of five to 10 years in prison and $150,000 bail," Johnson said.

Anyone who recognizes the suspect or has information is asked to call Hackensack police at 201-646-7777.