By: Jared Evan
New Yorkers are accustomed to always being aware of their surroundings and that many think generally New York City is a very safe place, until they are a victim themselves.
One risk of harm that hasn’t gone down and has, in fact increased, is the so-called knock-out game.
According to The New York Post, “knock-out games are back. The attack on New Yorkers is very real. We have to keep our heads on a swivel,” said Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective and an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “It’s not only the mentally ill who are committing these assaults. There are individuals who are angry, bored and brazen, who know they are not going to be prosecuted.”
During the initial rash of knock out game attacks, progressives vehemently denied that such a violent game exists. The radical left accused those of mentioning this urban phenomenon as hateful bigots, as in almost every case, the attackers were African American.
A typical knock-out game usually involves a young person running up to and sucker-punching and innocent bystander, usually someone elderly or disabled.
“It’s not only the mentally ill who are committing these assaults. There are individuals who are angry, bored and brazen, who know they are not going to be prosecuted.” continued Alcazar.
Dean Balsamini reports, “At least a dozen of the social-media driven assaults — done for online attention, kicks or gang initiation — plagued the city in 2013. While the NYPD said it doesn’t track such “knockout”-type assaults specifically, this year there have been closer to 20 “sucker-punch” incidents, media reports show.
On Wednesday, a 74-year-old woman was slugged in the face in an unprovoked broad-daylight attack in Midtown. The senior was out of the hospital and “feels OK,” the victim’s niece, Josephine Abragan, told The New York Post on Saturday.
In an exclusive interview with The New York Post, one vertebrae Brooklyn cop said, Whether the attacks are being carried out by the mentally ill or thugs with bad intentions, the state’s controversial bail reform laws are emboldening attackers, law enforcers said. It doesn’t matter if it’s a game or not. It’s just the way the streets are now. Perps think they can get away with anything, and most of the time they’re right. We arrest them and they get right back out.”
Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told reporters he is worried in the rise of knock-out game and the increase in copycat attacks.
In 2015, investigative journalist Colin Flaherty, reported heavily on the knockout game. Flaherty had extensively reported on urban violence, especially violence from the black community’s youths. ‘Don’t Make the Black Kids Angry:’ The hoax of black victimization and those who enable It, was a best seller and created a firestorm of controversy.
