AMES – An Iowa State student was one of to persons who reported to Ames police that they were victims of a troubling phenomenon known as the “knockout game” over the past weekend.
The Iowa State Daily reported that ISU sophomore Tony Behnke was walking along at 4 AM Saturday night when a black Buick four-door car drove slowly past him while an African American male with dreadlocks was walking behind him. Soon, Behnke was punched in the head by the man, who then got in the Buick and sped away.
The U.S. Justice Department says that the “knockout game” is an assault in which an assailant aims to knock out an unsuspecting victim with one punch.
According to Mr. Behnke, via social media:
Saturday night was quite an interesting night. At about 4am when I was walking home a guy came up from behind me and hit me across the head. I guess this is called the ‘knockout Game”? Please do not be walking out late ever alone. yes it is Ames Iowa but this is a trend that picking up. Walk with friends know your surroundings. The guys did not knock me out but was able to give me a concussion. I met another person who this happened to the very same night just 10minutes before they hit me. This is real. Please spread the word and be home before 1am. Nothing good happens after midnight.
Behnke later sought medical attention, and was told by medical staff that he was the second person that evening that complained of the same kind of incident.
“He had gotten punched ten minutes before I had gotten hit,” Behnke told the Daily. “The guy that hit him got out of the back seat came up and upper cut him. They didn’t follow him at all; he had a pretty nice gash on his jaw.”
“Occasionally we get someone driving up, words are exchanged and they get in a fight. This is very similar to what you hear about the “knockout game” where you randomly walk up to somebody who’s not expecting it and smack them in the head,” Ames police investigator Geoff Huff told the Daily.
“That’s troubling.”
NIT reported in December that evidence of the “knockout game” was creeping up around the country.
Today, the Daily caller reported that “two Louisiana teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in an attack motivated by a competition between the two to see who could hit harder, according to local police.”
The victim later died.
This to me sounds like a hate crime, like the one in Katy, Texas.