The so-called “knockout” game may have sprung up in San Diego, Calif., after a woman said that her husband was attacked by a stranger downtown. It is the likely first report of the violent game on the West Coast
The phenomenon has apparently gained popularity among groups of teens in several cities, including Pittsburgh and Brooklyn, and involves approaching a stranger and hitting them in the head to knock them out. There has been at least one death, a man in Chicago, associated with it.
Victoria Hyatt told NBC San Diego that her husband was attacked in such a way while he was downtown.
She said he was walking up to an intersection when a man came up and punched him in the face
“And as soon as he hit him as hard as he could, he just kept walking,” Hyatt told NBC San Diego. “It was like nothing had happened.”
She said that the person who hit her husband “was dressed like any other young man downtown. He had a nice dress shirt on, a nice pair of slacks.”
“He just threw a hook with his left hand and just got right me in the face,” she said, according to Q13 Fox, “And he said “wa-pow.’”
“They weren’t talking to each other,” she told News 10, elaborating further. “They were just standing next to each other and then out of the blue, the light changed for him to walk across the crosswalk and he just … bam, hit him as hard as he could.”
They called the police and no suspects were identified.
A 62-year-old man died after he suffered an attack that was linked to the game. And police said a group of teens knocked out a 51-year-old man in Syracuse, N.Y., and stomped on him before he died of his injuries.
YouTube videos show teens punching a man randomly on the street in New Jersey. Another violent attack was recorded in Pittsburgh.
