'Knockout game' leads to arrests, more police patrols

Marisol Bello | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Knockout videos show disturbing trend | USA NOW Hadley Malcolm hosts USA NOW on a new "game" that has teens trying to knock random passersby unconscious with a single punch.

The %27knockout game%27 involves young people randomly trying to knock down strangers in one punch

Attacks have occurred in New York%2C Washington%2C New Haven and suburban Philadelphia

New York police have charged one man in an attack last week

Dangerous "knockout" attacks on strangers are leading to arrests, more officers flooding the streets and more warnings for vigilance by an unsuspecting public.

Perpetrators have dubbed the violent practice as the "knockout game," in which young people try to randomly knock out strangers with one punch.

Recent attacks in New York, New Haven, Conn., Washington, D.C. and suburban Philadelphia have raised concerns across the country. The violence is not new, though. In 2011, St. Louis had a rash of similar incidents, one of which led to the death of a Vietnamese immigrant.

Some of the assaults are recorded and posted on social media by the attackers.

In New York, police have charged Amrit Marajh, 28, with two felony hate crimes after they said he assaulted a 24-year-old Jewish man wearing a yarmulke Friday in Brooklyn, NYPD Sgt. Carlos Nieves said.

Marajh, who is Trinidadian, was talking about the knockout game with three other men and made an anti-Semitic statement just before the incident, Nieves said.

The victim was not seriously injured.

New York police Sgt. Brendan Ryan said in an e-mail that extra officers have been assigned to the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn. . The NYPD wouldn't confirm how many suspected knockout assaults have been reported.

The attacks in New York have racial overtones because the suspects are black and the victims have been Jewish.

In New Haven, police spokesman David Hartman said police are investigating six incidents in the past month as part of the knockout trend. He said investigators have identified three people of interest but no arrests have been made.

He said no one suffered serious injuries in any of the attacks. More undercover officers are patrolling downtown and a neighborhood called South Hill, where five of the assaults occurred, he said.

"I think the fact that this has been labeled a game is sickening," Hartman said. "This is not a game. This is violent."

Will Marling, executive director of the National Organization for Victim Assistance, said this trend is not an epidemic.

"But it could be the start of one," he said, because the attacks have a social media component. "As experience shows, other kids will see this is an easy thing to do and then it becomes groupthink."

He said the attacks demonstrate a need for a conversation with young people about respect.

Michelle Boykins, a spokeswoman for the National Crime Prevention Council, said what is so disturbing about the trend is that it is random and the intent is to hurt someone seriously.

She said the incidents often involve someone walking alone, so she suggests the tried-and-true ways to stay safe: Walk with a friend and be aware of your surroundings.

"There is safety in numbers," she said. "And if you are by yourself, there is nothing wrong for you to decide to cross the street if you see a group of people walking toward you."

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Contributing: Yamiche Alcindor in New York