A trend we noticed a few years ago might be on the rise. It’s not a game even though it is often called the ‘knock out game’. It’s often a gang initiation ritual or just peer pressure amongst young black men where they are dared to punch someone out. It’s also called ‘one hitter quite’ and ‘the polar bear game’. It’s clearly dangerous and is often done to the elderly. During the holiday season, please walk with someone on city streets at night. We have reported on numerous assaults similar to the one below. Just last month a woman was knocked out then the attackers pulled out cell phones and took pictures:

PITTSBURGH KNOCK OUT GAME:

It’s a breathtaking, horrifying and jaw-dropping moment caught on surveillance video which has Pittsburgh Police investigating and deeply concerned.

“They don’t treat animals like that. They wouldn’t treat a dog that way,” says a Pittsburgh woman whose daughter is seen being beaten and lying unconscious on a sidewalk in the video.A surveillance camera captured the incident in Beechview more than a month ago. It shows a man walk up to the woman, kick her leg out and punch her in the face, knocking her out cold. The man then walks away from the scene.The next moments may be more disturbing. One young man walks up to the woman, looks at her motionless body, then pulls out his phone and takes a video. Four more young people do the same.

LOWER EAST SIDE ATTACK:

Police are investigating a Lower East Side attack that may be linked to the notorious “Knock Out Game,” authorities said Thursday.

A young man sucker-punched a 53-year-old woman on Essex St. near Grand St. about 9:30 p.m. leaving her with minor injuries, cops said.

The victim told police that the suspect approached her from behind and suddenly punched her on the right side of her face.

She fell onto the ground with a bruise, but refused medical attention.

Witnesses to the attack, first reported by DNA info New York, told police that her attacker was goaded into punching the woman by two other men who were with him.

“I’m going to do it!” the suspect was heard saying before he punched his victim.

Police put surveillance images of the three men onto a wanted poster that was circulated around the Lower East Side, hoping someone recognizes them.

No arrests have been made.

Several reports of Knock Out Game attacks in 2013 — in which people hurl punches at complete strangers on the street in the hopes of leaving them unconscious — left city residents rattled, although no attacks have been reported in recent years.
Read more: NYDN

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