Knockout Game is a Crime

A pedestrian is walking along the street when someone runs up to him or her. Before the pedestrian realizes what is happening, he or she is struck. Hard.

Whether the action is called a "sucker punch," a "jumping" or an example of the "Knockout Game," a proposed New Jersey law would net the assailant a minimum one-year prison term.

"We need to send a message that one strike, and you will be out and in jail," said Assemblyman Ronald Dancer, the bill's co-sponsor.

The bill was introduced earlier this month. It faces long odds of being adopted before the new Legislature convenes on Jan. 14.

Prosecutors in Monmouth and Ocean counties have not received any reports of "Knockout Game" incidents, where people go up to pedestrians on the street and try to knock them off their feet with one blow, spokesmen for both offices said. Robbery is not the motive.

"We're not treating this any differently than anything else we are vigilant for," said Asbury Park Police Capt. Marshawn Love, who declined to specify how officers will try to prevent "Knockout Game" incidents from occurring. "Rest assured that we're trying to be proactive with how we deal with crimes."

Keansburg Deputy Police Chief Michael Pigott questions how officers would be able to prevent a person from sneaking up on a pedestrian and hitting them suddenly.

"What's there to do?" Pigott said. "Thankfully, we haven't had anything like that in town. It's really sickening."

New Jersey State Police are in communication with local departments about the issue, said Lt. Stephen Jones, who declined to say whether there is any specific directive from above for how to deal with it. Currently, the state does not have a specific reporting category for such an incident, he said.

It may be difficult for authorities to discern whether someone struck by someone else on the street is the victim of a fight, of a random assault, of an attempted robbery, or of the "Knockout Game," Jones said.

"This is a cowardly act," Jones said. "We're hoping members of the public recognize the severity of it."

A 46-year-old homeless man died Sept. 10 in Hoboken after he was apparently randomly attacked on the street. Three teens have been charged with his murder.

In Houston on Thursday, Conrad Barrett, a 27-year-old white man, was arrested on federal hate crimes charges after he shot a video of himself striking a 78-year-old black man and saying "knockout" afterward.

Steven Dranoff, a psychologist who heads a consulting firm that specializes in bullying and in violence prevention, said he believes that many of those who go out looking to strike a random person likely have misperceptions of their own peers' motivations for participating in the act.

"These are people with high levels of narcissism and violence and low levels of empathy," said Dranoff, who believes society needs to improve how individuals handle conflicts and their own issues if things like the "Knockout Game" are to end.

"Attacks like this are not new," Jones said. "People in groups have been attacking lone pedestrians for as long as anyone can remember."

Back in the early 1700s, newspaper stories circulated of groups of young people who called themselves "Mohocks" roaming the streets of London, punching random pedestrians.

During the late 1980s, media reports also abounded of young people in New York forming groups and going "wilding," or causing general mayhem.

These days, with the proliferation of cell phone cameras, videos of street fights can be found on various websites online. Some videos round up the "highlights" of various street brawls, where one of the participants is knocked to the ground.

In 2011, a 17-year-old Lake Como boy and Taylor C. Giresi, of Belmar, posted to the internet a video of their attack on a homeless man in Wall. Giresi, who was 20 at the time, received a three-year prison sentence for his role in the attack. The teen spent more than 60 days in a youth detention facility and was sentenced to a one-year suspended sentence and a year on probation.

"We live in a world where violence is the norm, where it is often an accepted way of dealing with a conflict," Dranoff said. "We need to spend time teaching more people about empathy."

Before that happens, Dancer wants those convicted of trying to or causing a person to lose consciousness because of a single physical strike to serve a mandatory minimum of a third to a half of a three- to five-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

Third-degree aggravated assault normally does not lead to imprisonment, said Dancer, who believes it would be up to the courts or a jury to decide whether someone is guilty of simply getting into a fight with someone else or of engaging in the "Knockout Game."

Dancer said he is unaware of any "Knockout Game" incidents in his district. He acknowledges that with only a few days left in the current session, the bill's prospects of being considered are very low. Dancer intends to reintroduce the bill once the new session begins, in 2014.

"This is not a game," Dancer said. "People who are thinking of doing this need to know that the penalties will soon become more severe."