Two more victims of the knockout game were reported to police as a New York official admitted the attacks are happening primarily to Jewish residents.
Eli Leidner, a 26-year-old Hasidic Jew, was attacked at 10:40 p.m. in the Williamsburg neighborhood of New York by a woman who ran up and sucker punched him. The woman then stood laughing as Leidner lay on the floor.
Leidner told police that two people came at him but only the woman struck him in the face.
While police officials are loathe to acknowledge the knockout game officially, some New York officials are at least admitting a pattern of assaults. New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind said he could see a connection in the attacks.
“It seems clear that overwhelmingly here in New York the victims have been Jewish, there’s no question about that,’ Hikind told New York radio station WCBS. ‘You have New Yorkers who are afraid to walk the streets, afraid to let their kids walk the in streets because you don’t know who the next victim is going to be.”
Meanwhile, a 63-year-old Philadelphia man was beaten by a group of four black youths according to a witness. She said that the gang attacked the man out of nowhere, knocked him to the ground with a punch to the head and cheered while two of the youths recorded the attack on their cell phones.
The man was hospitalized with head and chest injuries.
The Mayor of Philadelphia has stepped up to say that the “knockout game” spreading across the country in major cities will not be tolerated in his town.
“This is not a game. You can seriously injure or possibly kill someone,” Mayor Michael Nutter said at a press conference. “Your child’s life will be dramatically changed, and probably yours as well as a parent. So let’s cut out the nonsense. There are many other things that people can do to enjoy themselves. This is not one of them.”
The “knockout game” is where a victim is randomly assaulted by striking them in the head with the intention of knocking them out with one punch while the incident is recorded on a cell phone or other device.
The Mayor said anyone caught committing a crime connected to the “knockout game” would face charges ranging from aggravated assault to third degree murder. He has instructed the city’s district attorney to use the most serious charges available for any attack and prosecute to the fullest extent.
Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey encouraged parents to be involved with their children, ask them if they know anyone engaging in the game and pay attention to who their children associate with during the day.
On November 13th, we reported in a story called Knock Out The Jew about Jewish residents in New York City being attacked over the previous months by gangs who attempted to knock out their victims with a single punch. A local rabbi said they were playing a “knockout game.”
Now, police in other northeastern cities are reporting that the “game” has made its way to their communities.
At least three knockout attacks have taken place in the Philadelphia area. Police in Lower Merion Township say two attacks took place in their jurisdiction. Philadelphia police detectives confirmed one attack taking place within the city.
Victim Mark Cumberland told CBS he is still suffering from blurred vision and having trouble breathing from the attack on November 11th. He was walking out of a pizza shop when he was attacked.
Two teens were arrested for attacking an elderly man on October 29th. Lower Marion police say the teens walked up to a 63-year-old man and just punched him in the mouth.
Police in Washington, D.C. confirm at least two attacks they believe to be “knockout game” incidents. In one attack, a woman riding a bike was punched in the nose and knocked to the ground.
The NYPD is investigating a series of attacks on Jews in Brooklyn which they speculate is part of a sick game called “Knock Out The Jew.”
Police have not officially connected the series of assaults but have released a video showing a group attacking a Jewish man. The video shows different angles of the man being beaten.
A witness told CBS New York that a gang beat his 12-year-old son while he was wearing traditional Jewish attire on a street. The gang then began to cheer, “we got him” as he fell to the ground after being repeatedly struck in the face.
Rabbi Yaacov Behrman said that the game is being played by gangs of African-American teens.
In addition to the assaults, several synagogues have been vandalized.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the attacks.
According to the U.S. State Department, anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world.
The annual report showed a rise in anti-Semitism in the Middle East and parts of South America. Continue reading →
