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The "knockout game" is one of many names given by American news media to assaults in which, purportedly, one or more assailants attempt to knock out an unsuspecting victim, often with a single sucker punch, all for the amusement of the attackers and their accomplices.[1] Other names given to assaults of this type include "knockout", "knockout king", "point 'em out, knock 'em out", "bomb",[2][3] and "polar-bearing" or "polar-bear hunting" (allegedly called such when the victim is white).[4][5][6] Serious injuries and even deaths have been attributed to the "knockout game". Some news sources report that there has been an escalation of such attacks in late 2013, and in some cases the attack has been charged as a hate crime, while some politicians have been seeking new targeted legislation specifically against it.[4][7][8] However, other media analysts have cast doubt on this and have labeled the trend, although not the attacks themselves, a myth[9][10] or an example of a panic, both with racist undertones.[11][12] Liberal analysts claim that their conservative counterparts falsely promote a view that the "knockout game" trend is real[13][14] and conservative analysts claim that the liberal media does not report on it due to the racial implications it may have.[15][16][17]

In September 1992, Norwegian exchange student Yngve Raustein was killed by three teenagers who, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts, prosecutors, were playing a game called "knockout". Local teens said that the object was to render an unsuspecting target unconscious with a single punch, and if the assailant did not succeed, his companions turned on him instead.[18]

In 2005 in the United Kingdom, BBC News reported on the happy slapping incidents, where the attack is filmed for the purpose of sharing online.[19] The French government responded to this trend by making it against the law to film any acts of violence and post them on the Internet, with a spokesperson for then President Nicolas Sarkozy saying the law was indeed directed at "happy slapping".[20]

Three teens were arrested in Decatur, Illinois, in September 2009 and charged in the killing of a bicyclist, 61, who was stomped to death, and the attempted murder of another man, 46, who was also attacked and stomped. It was claimed that the teens were playing "point 'em out, knock 'em out" where a person is selected and a group of attackers decide to render the victim unconscious.[21][22]

In June 2009, a 29-year-old man was beaten in a Columbia, Missouri, parking garage by a group of teens who told police that they were playing a game called "Knockout King" where they find an unsuspecting person and knock them out with a single punch.[23]

In April 2011, Hoang Nguyen, 72, died in St. Louis, Missouri, after he was attacked in what was described by a local CBS station as "part of the so called 'knock out game'." Nguyen's wife, Yen, 62, was injured. After trial, the assailant Elex Murphy, 18 at the time of the assault, was sentenced to life in prison plus 25 years.[23][24][25][26]

In July 2012, 62-year-old Delfino Mora was attacked by three teens and killed in West Rogers Park, Chicago. Anthony Malcolm, who recorded the attack on his cell phone (the video was seen on Facebook), was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Two other teens were awaiting trial in September 2013. The attack was said to be part of a game called "pick 'em out, knock 'em out."[22][27]

In 2013, a series of these attacks resulted in the death of the victims, all with some sort of game as a precipitating factor to the attack. Michael Daniels, 51, of Syracuse, New York, died a day after being attacked in May 2013, with the "knockout game" later mentioned in regards to his death.[28][29]

In Bolton, Lancashire, Eden Lomax, a 17-year old young man, murdered 43-year-old Simon Mitchell in an attack he referred to as a "bomb"; in the investigation it was discovered Lomax had performed other non-fatal "bomb" attacks in the days leading up to the murder.[2][3]

Ralph Santiago, a disabled homeless resident of Hoboken, New Jersey, was found dead after being attacked by three boys ages 13 to 14 whose assault was linked to the "knockout" game.[30][31]

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Knockout game - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) -

Connecticut lawmakers are reviewing a bill that would give stiffer penalties to people who commit the knockout game.

The bill was discussed during a public hearing of the General Assembly's Public Safety Committee where lawmakers heard testimony about it on Tuesday.

Among the supporters is a West Hartford father whose 18-year-old son's face was damaged after being punched in the head.

"My son has two titanium plates in his jaw. He has eight screws in this jaw and it was broken in multiple places," said West Hartford police Officer Tom Nagle.

Nagle said his son is in rehab after being a victim of the knockout game.

"He's been wired shut and has to have his meals through a straw," Nagle said. "He's lost some weight. He's rehabilitating and our family is concentrating on him getting well."

His son is a college student in Massachusetts and was walking back to his dorm room when someone came up from behind and punched him in the head.

Police said Nagle's son was the third person that night to be sucker punched in an unprovoked attack and without any warning.

Lawmakers want to toughen penalties. Right now, a person arrested for being involved in the knockout game would be charged with aClass D felony and face a five-year sentence. However, they could get probation.

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Lawmakers consider tougher penalties for knockout attack suspects

The Connecticut General Assemblys public safety and security committee held a public hearing today on a bill that would increase penalties for those convicted of assault through participation in the so-called knockout game.

West Hartford police officer Tom Nagle was among those to testify in favor of stronger legislation. In January, his son, whose identity he asked us not to reveal, was a victim of this type of assault on his college campus.

He has a broken jaw. It was wired shut. Hes lost 15 pounds. Hes having meals through a straw, said Nagle.

The 17 year West Hartford cop says his son is very fortunate.

One of the young men who was assaulted prior to my son was actually knocked out. My son was knocked down to all fours. He was able to get up and then run to help, he said.

In early February, Endicott College sophomore, Dillon DeStefano, who students say bragged about the attacks on the two students, pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and battery. He remains incarcerated without bail

My son has two titanium plates in his lower jaw. He has 8 screws. His jaw was broken in multiple places, Nagle further explains.

The victims are often chosen randomly and without warning. The perpetrators often deliver one blow to the head in an attempt to knock out their target.

The bill, sponsored by state representative Joe Verrengia, who is also a West Hartford police Sgt., would establish a knockout game assault as a class D felony, which carries a maximum five-year sentence.

What this bill does is impose a two year sentence that cannot be suspended, said Verrengia.

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Police Officer Demands Knockout Game Legislation

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HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) Some state lawmakers want to send a clear message to anyone that thinks the so-called knockout game is fun. Theyre proposing a counter-punch that could land you in prison for at least two years.

With increasing frequency, there have been media reports about a relatively new crime.

A random act of landing a severe blow with a fist with the intention of knocking someone to the ground not to rob them, just a malicious act of violence.

An attack like this on a West Hartford college student at a campus in Massachusetts has prompted a call here in Connecticut for a harsh, mandatory penalty for anyone convicted of playing whats called the knockout game.

What happened to West Hartford Police Officer Tom Nagles son is whats prompting state lawmakers to act.

My eighteen year old son was walking to his dorm one evening, by himself, and randomhe was randomly attacked, a single punch to the jaw knocked him to the ground, said Officer Tom Nagle, West Hartford.

Lest anyone watching thinks this is funny or cool listen to the injuries to officer Nagles son.

His jaw was shattered in multiple places, he has to titanium plants in his jaw and he has eight screws, so the last six weeks hes beenhis meals have been through a straw, said Nagle.

Fellow police officer and State lawmaker Joe Verrengia has proposed a law that would force such crimes committed by 16 or 17 year olds into adult court with a two year mandatory sentence.

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Harsher penalties proposed for knockout game

NEW YORK - Kyle Rogers, a 23-year-old man who suffered a broken jaw and facial lacerations from a violent sucker-punch in the Bowery neighborhood of Manhattan last weekend, says he was the victim of a "knockout game" attack, reports CBS New York. On Thursday, police released surveillance video of the altercation in an attempt to identify the assailant.

Rogers does not remember getting punched around 2:30 a.m. Sunday. He told CBS New York that he only remembers waking up in an ambulance on his way to Bellevue Hospital.

7 Photos

"Knockout" attacks, designed to render an unsuspecting, random victim unconscious in one punch, have seemingly become an alarming trend in the Un...

The Rogers family believes the incident was another of the "knockout game" attacks that have been reported in New York and across the country since last year, where participants punch unsuspecting strangers in an attempt to render them unconscious.

Rogers, whose mouth is wired shut, called the attack "a coward move."

"I'm defenseless," said Rogers. "It's one thing if he was looking me in the face, like squaring up, but, come on, from behind? It's like a coward move."

The victim was walking in the city after leaving his friends at a bar in Manhattan when he was attacked.

"I guess when I fell and hit the ground, I split [my eyebrow] open... and my chin from the punch," Rogers said of his injuries. According to the victim, the attacker was not someone he knew and didn't say anything to him before the incident.

"I just want these kids to stop. I want them to understand that it's not a game. That's the whole thing. They call it a game, and it's not a game," Michael Rogers, Kyle's father, told CBS New York. "People get hurt real bad."

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Police release video of man sucker-punched in NYC