The Knockout Game, which involves a person approaching another individual and attempting to knock them unconscious with one hit to the head, has been reported to be the cause of multiple deaths across the country recently.
Several videos are featured on sites such as YouTube, CBS and HLNtv that demonstrate examples of the assaults taking place.
One video shows a homeless NJ man, Ralph Santiago, being attacked while walking alone in Hoboken on the night of Sept. 10, 2013. Santiago was struck from behind and knocked unconscious, according to a CNN report. He fell on a nearby fence, which impaled him, causing his death.
According to the CNN report, there is a surveillance video showing three young men fleeing the scene of the Hoboken incident. Two weeks later, police had two juveniles who were suspect for the unprovoked attack in custody. Similar attacks have been reported by authorities in NY, IL, MO, and WA.
“I think it’s incredibly disgusting and I don’t understand how people can think that it is okay to do that to another person,” said Shannen Bick, a sophomore communication major. “I think it’s like big groups of people who had one person who thought of the idea and the rest of the group went along with it. It’s really a group mentality, I think, because nobody is going around doing this by themselves.”
NJ State Assemblymen, Jon Bramnick and Ron Dancer, proposed a minimum mandated prison term bill in response to the two violent deaths caused by the Knockout Game thus far on Thursday, Dec. 12.
“Knockout is not a game. It is a violent and dangerous act,” said Bramnick in a NJ.com article. Bramnick, who co-sponsored the bill with Dancer, said, “…as legislators, we must ensure that our laws address the newest inceptions of violence with the harshest possible penalties.”
According to Gregory Bordelon, a lecturer of political science, NJ is considering several bills that include the specific nature of the knockout attacks, but none have progressed far enough in the legislative sessions so far.
Some bills, such as the A570 bill, which would classify the Knockout Game as a third-degree aggravated assault, and the A686 bill that would classify it as a second-degree assault, are currently being processed in the state legislature, said Bordelon.
NJ.com said the proposed bill will ensure that anyone found guilty of participating in the Knockout Game will face a three to five year prison term without any eligibility of parole.
However, some law enforcement officials are still skeptical as to whether this game is real or not. Officials are trying to figure out if these attacks could just be random assaults.
“We’re trying to determine whether or not this is a real phenomenon,” Raymond Kelly, New York City Police Commissioner, told the New York Times. “I mean, yes, something like this can happen. But we would like to have people come forward and give us any information they have.”
Most recently, Darryl Mitchell was indicted on Dec. 17 in connection to seven Knockout Game attacks that have taken place in Suffolk County, Long Island. According to a CBS web exclusive, Mitchell is accused of punching people in the head, unprovoked, in broad daylight. He is suspected of being connected to two other cases and his bail has been set at $200,000.
Bordelon said that many of the proposed bills seek to raise the cost of the penalties given to those prosecuted. “The various bills discussed… really seek to simply increase the penalties… and/or bring the Knockout conduct, such as the singularity of the hit with intent to have the victim lose consciousness, under the umbrella of what distinguishes a simple assault from an aggravated one to make it prosecutable… and increase the degree of the charge,” said Bordelon.
According to Bordelon, these increases could be in the form of “either more jail time, higher fines, or delayed time before a defendant would be eligible for parole.”
Despite the higher levels of punishment that are being pursued by lawmakers, the idea that this “game” will stop anytime soon leaves some doubtful.
“I don’t think that kids are going to stop until they realize the severity of the situation,” said Ash Hamm, a junior business administration student. “They are just doing it because it is a fad and a part of the mob and group mentality. Until there is a death by one of the kids doing it or a major repercussion, they aren’t going to stop, unfortunately.”
While the Knockout Game might not necessarily be stopped by the law, Bordelon believes that college campuses need not worry about such attacks making their way into the community. “The elements of assault are clear in these Knockout Games, and laws can make prison time longer through degrees,” Bordelon said. “Well lit campus and university police forces will be helpful in ensuring these acts don’t start to occur on college campuses.”
PHOTO TAKEN from abcnews.go.com
