The knockout game, which was “popular” in recent years, has started to be seen again in New York City, USA.
The “game”, in which people suddenly punch people they do not know, was first seen in the city in 1992.
After the notable case of the cold-blooded beating of an MIT student, Yngve Raustein, by a group in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 30 years ago, people told prosecutors their aim was to beat up a random stranger.
ONE PERSON IS BACK FROM DEATH
After the knockout game, which reappeared in 2022, 20 people were found to have been punched by people they did not know, while the New York City Police Department (NYPD) stated that one person returned from death with serious injuries.
The “game”, in which people suddenly punch people they do not know, was first seen in the city in 1992.
It was reported that the seriously injured person hit his head on the pavement after being punched and broke his skull, and recovered after living on a ventilator for a long time.
Prosecutors said the object of the game was to knock down a random stranger with one punch.
“THE WHO KNOW THEY WILL NOT BE JUDGED ARE DOING”
Commenting on the matter, retired NYPD officer Michael Alcazar, an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said, “We have to see these events. The perpetrators of these attacks are not just the mentally ill. There are those who are angry, bored, arrogant and know that they will not be judged.”
The attacks went by various names, such as the ‘knockout king’, the ‘one-shot attack’ and the ‘happy slap’ in the UK.
Alcazar referred to the city’s lax bail laws that regularly put serial criminals back on the streets, encouraging many to commit even more crimes.
In New York, crime rates have skyrocketed in recent times, with overall crime rising by a third so far this year compared to the same period in 2021. However, serious crimes in the city reached 16,692 by August 21, compared to 14,455 on the same date last year.