As more cases of the reported "knockout game" surface, authorities are questioning whether the events have been linked, or whether they're merely some of the random attack cases law enforcement officials deal with almost daily.
"We're trying to determine whether this is a real phenomenon," New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly stated during a press conference, according to the Metro.
Reports of the so-called game, which calls for assailants to randomly run up behind strangers on the street and deliver a single knockout punch, have recently surfaced in several U.S. cities. Most of the attackers in Brooklyn, N.Y., Hoboken, N.J. and New Haven, Conn., have been teenagers. At least one person, a 46-year-old homeless man, has died from the attacks. Most recently, a 24-year-old Jewish man in Brooklyn was hit by a 28-year-old man who was reportedly chatting about the knockout game prior to the assault, Yahoo News reported. The attacker was charged with a hate crime.
In response to the rising number of people coming forward with "knockout" accounts, Republican New York State Assemblyman Jim Tedisco last week announced that a "Knockout Assault Deterrent Act" was in the works. The bill demands that juveniles who are found guilty of participating in the assaults be tried as adults.
Some claimed that gang members are to blame for the attacks.
"What's shameful is not only that these punks are knocking out innocent people, but they're trying to rack up knockouts to their friends," Tedisco said, adding that a higher number of knockouts means "a status symbol in the gang."
Others have said that the extensive media attention led some to participate in the trend simply because of high coverage.
"When you highlight an incident or a type of criminal activity, some people will simply try to copy it," Kelly continued on Friday. "It's a phenomenon we've seen before."
For Senior Researcher at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice Mike Males, the trend is isolated, but not anything new.
"There is no evidence supporting this as a huge, viral number of attacks," Males told the Christian Science Monitor. "I've heard of incidents of this so-called 'knockout game' dating back to 1996. It's not new. What is important to realize is this tiny 'knockout' pattern is part of a stronger pattern of random violence against strangers in this country."
But Syracuse Police Sgt. Tom Connellan regarded the two reportedly related fatal attacks as part of a serious trend - one not to be taken lightly.
"I think it's very real," Connellan told Yahoo News. "As opposed to a motive for assault, be it anger or robbery, this is strictly for a game."
