Retired NYPD cop socked in the head in possible ‘knockout game’ attack

The Bobster

Senior News Editor since 2004









Retired NYPD cop socked in the head in possible ‘knockout game’ attack​



By
Joe Marino and

Allie Griffin


October 19, 2022 3:36am
Updated





Footage of the attackers and victim
The former officer was walking on a sidewalk along Brighton Beach Avenue before the punch. DCPI





A retired NYPD officer was socked in the back of the head in Brooklyn Tuesday in what is being eyed as a possible “knockout game” attack, police and sources said.
The 66-year-old former cop was walking on a sidewalk along Brighton Beach Avenue when a group of suspects came up and clobbered him in the back of the head just before 1 p.m., police and the sources said.
The suspects — who look to be teenagers or young adults — then quickly ran off towards Brighton 7th Street.
The punch was completely unprovoked, according to the NYPD.
A police source said the assault may have been part of a twisted challenge that dares players to slug a stranger on the street with the goal of knocking the person unconscious with a single blow.
Footage of the involved individualsThe suspects ran off toward Brighton 7th Street.DCPI
The so-called “knockout game” terrorized New Yorkers a few years ago with groups of teens and young adults slugging unsuspecting victims and filming the attacks which they later uploaded to social media.
In Tuesday’s attack, the suspects walked up to the retired police officer while laughing before cracking him in the back of the head, the source said.
The victim — who sources said had been assigned to the 78th Precinct before retirement — suffered pain and swelling, but refused medical attention.
 

Retired NYPD cop clocked in ‘knockout game’ attack blasts bail ‘disreform’​



By
Steven Vago and

Mark Lungariello


October 19, 2022 3:41pm
Updated









The retired NYPD cop who was punched in the head in an apparent “knockout game” attack in Brooklyn blasted state bail “disreform” Wednesday as he urged officials to prosecute criminals, send them to jail — and not let them out onto the streets.
Harvey Kraft, 66, said he chased the punk who clocked him because he didn’t want to give him a “free pass,” as he railed against policies making the streets less safe.
“One thing I can say to Gov. [Kathy] Hochul and the [district attorneys] are when someone gets arrested, prosecute them and send them to jail and don’t let them out on the street the next day, so someone else can be a victim,” said Kraft, who responded to 9/11 and retired in 2002.

“Who knows how many times they have done this in the past or the future unless they’re caught and sentenced and punished?”

Kraft was walking on Brighton Beach Avenue and headed to the library at about 1 p.m. Tuesday when suddenly he was blindsided with “a crack to my skull,” he said in an interview from the lobby of his Brighton Beach apartment building. Two people were with his attacker, ready to film the assault, he said.


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Harvey Kraft said he chased his attackers after an apparent knockout game attack In Brighton Beach.
Harvey Kraft said he chased his attackers after an apparent "knockout game" attack In Brighton Beach. DCPI

The apparent attackers were still on the loose a day after the brazen broad daylight assault, cops said.
The apparent attackers were still on the loose a day after the brazen broad daylight assault, cops said. DCPI



Surveillance footage showed a group of people — apparently teenagers — approach Kraft from behind laughing before one lunges at him in a broad-daylight attack he didn’t see coming.


“I turned around quickly and apparently they were trying to knock me out with that knockout game. I didn’t lose my balance or composure. I turned around and faced them and yelled at them. They all started running in different directions,” he said.


The attackers were “running for their lives” as the 66-year-old chased them, he said.


“If you don’t defend yourself, it’s giving them a free pass,” he said.






“Unfortunately you need to have two sets of eyes in the front of your head and the back of your head,” Kraft said. “You have to be constantly prepared, constantly aware until this matter is under control until you have some peace of mind, which doesn’t exist in this state of the city currently — regardless of what any politician is telling you. You have to be careful.”

“When they say bail reform, I don’t agree with the concept or that word,” the ex-cop said of the controversial state criminal justice reform. “It seems like ‘disreform’ these days. You know, innocent people who are potential victims are suffering the consequences.

“I think the way it is with politics, anyone who is a victim now is just a part of collateral damage to support their agenda, which we all suffer by.”

Harvey KraftKraft said he chased the punk who clocked him because he didn’t want to give him a “free pass.”Paul Martinka
It’s not clear bail reform has any connection to the attack. His attackers remained unidentified and at large Wednesday, according to cops.


The former cop, who worked for the 78th Precinct in Brooklyn, said he soon lost his attacker. None of the group said anything in the “totally unprovoked” attack, he said.

“The one good thing is I was the victim in this case because if it was someone who wasn’t fit or more elderly, they could have been easily knocked out or fractured their skull, or who knows what else could have transpired,” Kraft said.

“I responded to hundreds and hundreds of encounters — robberies, assaults, other people who are victims — and I always felt confident that something wouldn’t happen to me, but the potential was always there.”

Harvey KraftKraft is a former cop who worked for the 78th Precinct in Brooklyn.Paul Martinka
Kraft said police showed him video of the attackers setting up to film the assault.

“I saw that they had their video cameras ready to record. They thought it would be a jokey matter to put on YouTube or get some media publicity,” he said.

“Obviously they have no morals, no conscience and they’re not afraid of any ramifications,” he said, referring to the group of teens. “It just shows the boldness of them and the arrogance and the disregard of the safety for anyone who comes across their paths.”
 
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