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78-Year-Old Brooklyn Woman Punched By Teens Playing 'Knockout'
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 20, 2013
Modified Nov 21, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 20, 2013
Modified Nov 21, 2013
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Last week, police announced that they were investigating whether multiple attacks on Jews in Brooklyn were part of an ongoing series of hate crimes, or just random attacks by teens playing a cruel game called "knockout." Now, police say another victim has been attacked in a similar manner: a 78-year-old Midwood woman was punched in the face while walking down the street earlier this month. "She was carrying a purse that was in full view and many bags, nothing was taken," the victim's daughter, Rita, told ABC. "This was purely a wanton incident, someone wanted to inflict pain onto someone else, no other purpose."
The incident happened on Sunday November 9th, but the woman was too scared to report it at first. "Who would do that? Who would attack a 78-year-old woman?" said State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who convinced her to go to police. "This is just hitting someone, attacking someone, it could be my mother, your mother. It's just scary and crazy." Police say this is the eighth attack of this kind to occur in Brooklyn in the last few months. “It’s ‘knockout,’ and it happens to be a Jew in each and every case,” Hikind added.
To be sure, these "knockout" attacks aren't new, and they're not just happening in NYC: various people in DC told DCist they have been victims of the game in recent weeks. A 20-year-old man was sentenced to 55 years in prison for killing an elderly man with a single punch in St. Louis, and a 51-year-old man was killed in Syracuse, N.Y. allegedly by two teenagers participating in the game. There have also been reports of attacks in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, London and other cities.
It's still unclear whether there is any racial or religious motivation behind the attacks, but all eight attacks that have been reported in NYC thus far have been against Jews. Attacking people for fun has long been a popular pastime among our nation’s poorly supervised teens, and considering how far the game has spread, it seems likely that this is just the latest incarnation of vile teens-being-vile teens.
Tagged
brooklyn
hate crime
jews
knockout
midwood
nypd
police
teens
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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