Knockout Game hits New Haven, six allegedly attacked

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NEW HAVEN >> Yale School of Medicine researcher Lawrence Hsieh, 35, had just left work Tuesday and was walking toward his bus stop in front of Gateway Community College on Church Street.

It was around 5:30 p.m. and it was a route Hsieh had taken many times without incident for nearly two years. But Tuesday three hooded males walked in his direction on the sidewalk.

He noticed one of the males split off from the group when they were about 30 feet away from him.

The lone male took two quick steps and took one swing at Hsieh, breaking his nose.

“I did not expect a punch to the face,” he said. “I was caught off guard.”

He fell down, but got back up and prepared for another assault, he said. He thought he was being robbed, but that didn’t turn out to be the case.

The group took nothing from him and quickly ran away.

Hsieh had likely become a victim of the Knockout Game, a new disturbing trend during which youth attempt to knock out an unsuspecting victim with one punch.

Hsieh isn’t the only reported victim in the city; there have been at least five others between Monday and Tuesday.

Five other reports came from the Hill South police district, said Lt. Joe Witkowski, district manager. The attacks occurred on Monday and Tuesday in the vicinity of Union Station and Church Street South.

Among victims was an elderly woman. None of the victims received life-threatening injuries, he said.

“I don’t know how much pride they should take or you can get from hitting an old lady,” Hsieh said.

The attacks appear random and there is no attempt at robbery afterward, Witkowski said. The pattern has been that a group of males approached the intended victim, one person attempts to strike and then the whole group quickly flees.

Witkowski said there are some leads on the perpetrators in the Hill.

The assaults have been gaining attention in many cities on the East Coast, including New York City, St. Louis Washington, and Jersey City, N.J.. Some of attacks are captured on cell phone or surveillance video and are posted to social media websites.

A 46-year-old man was killed after he was sucker-punched and his head hit an iron fence in Jersey City, according to the Associated Press.

The assaults won’t be tolerated in New Haven, said Police Chief Dean Esserman.

“We need to crush this immediately,” he said at the weekly police CompStat meeting Thursday.

A number of similar incidents happened when he was chief in Providence, RI, he said. Police there cracked down on the assaults and the trend was quickly curtailed.

The city had an upswing in “apple picking” robberies earlier in the year where robbers would quickly grab a cell phone out of an unsuspecting victim’s hand; some of the victims also were hit. There also were some incidents of “wilding,” which is a slang term for a type of quick attack carried out typically by youths ages 14 to 18.

Police took a proactive approach to the apple picking and other robberies involving cell phones by going to the alleged monetary source; the stores that buy stolen property. Operation Apple Harvest targeted four stores and during it police seized thousands of electronic devices during morning raids.

Hsieh said while all assaults are bad, these Knockout Games are disturbing since there is no logical reason behind them. He suspected it might have something to do with pride or an adrenaline rush, but said whatever it is, it doesn’t make sense.

Hsieh’s nose was fractured and it currently doesn’t look crooked, but there is some swelling, he said. His doctor will make a final determination as to whether his nose has to be set when the swelling goes down.

The attacks have people worried, Hsieh said; some people he has talked to have considered taking measures to protect themselves.

“People are thinking about carrying weapons as a response to the violence.” he said. “…I myself have contemplated it.”

He said worries that eventually one of these attacks will quickly escalate and that someone could end up dead.

Call Rich Scinto at 203-789-5748. Have questions, feedback or ideas about our news coverage? Connect directly with the editors of the New Haven Register at AskTheRegister.com