# Sick Game to Attack the Helpless -- Knock Out King



## Archtkd (Jun 8, 2011)

Have you heard of anything like this in your communities and have you had lessons to deal with it? Apparently here in St. Louis some teens are playing a game in which one earns points by knocking out unsuspecting victims in the streets with surprise punchs or kicks. A 72-year old Vietnamese immigrant was killed this way here recently and there are many other victims.

Acording to a story (http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2011...ng-elex-murphy-hoang-nguyen-dutchtown-murder/) in The Riverfront Times, our local alternative weekly, some teens as young as 14 are participating. The paper says, 

"the rules of Knockout King are straightforward... A lead attacker is chosen from among a group of boys, usually young adolescents. Next a target is picked out. Then the attacker either charges the unsuspecting victim or motions for his attention. When the target turns or lifts his head, the attacker strikes. If the victim is felled by the punch, the group usually scatters. But if the target withstands the blow, other members of the group may follow up with their fists to finish the job ...

Kids list various motivations for taking part: glory, boredom, peer pressure and showing off one's toughness ..."


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## puunui (Jun 9, 2011)

Never heard of it.


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## oftheherd1 (Jun 9, 2011)

Hadn't heard of it by that name, but the idea has been reported before.  It is disgusting to me.  What kind of people think sucker punching old people is a game from which to gain glory?


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## WC_lun (Jun 9, 2011)

I just don't understand how someone would think this is acceptable behaviour.  Sounds to me like a bunch of teens that need thier backsides tanned.


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## Bill Mattocks (Jun 9, 2011)

Sounds like a similar fad that was popular in the UK for awhile:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_slapping

A bit more dangerous, though.

I hope it does not catch on.


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## Empty Hands (Jun 9, 2011)

No surprise that the victims are the elderly.  They aren't going to try it with this guy:






You want to prove how "tough" you are?  Try attacking someone who might be able to pound you into dust.


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## Archtkd (Jun 9, 2011)

puunui said:


> Never heard of it.


 
I had heard rumors of the sickening game, but this is the first extensive news article I've read here about it. What's interesting is that the South City area that it's occuring in is not the hard core Northside part of the city of St. Louis, where deadly gang violence with firearms is rampant. It's not even seasoned gang teens that you might spot from a mile that are doing this. That's is what makes it more dangerous. 

According to the River Front Times story, the crime is also evolving, from one in which targets where young people to one in which old and frail folk are now fair game:

_"Former player Brandon Demond says that during his Knockout King days, old men were off-limits. 'The new generation is doing it stupid, 'cause they hit old heads,' Brandon scoffs.'You're supposed to hit young people or people in their mid-twenties_.'"


The specific neighborhood where the Vietnamese immigrant was killed is about 10 minutes from my dojang. It's very close to a once badly blighted neigborhood that has been turned into a thriving business/residential district by flocks of refugees who fled war and destitution in their troubled home countries. They include Congolese, Bosnians, Vietnamese, Iraqis, Somali Bantus, Rwandese, etc. It's close to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, St. Louis University Medical School, St. Louis University's main campus, Harris Stowe State University.

In unrelated developments, many the teenage kids of those hardworwing immigrants are now themselves turning to deliquency because they are having problems adjusting to life in America. A representative of a local non-profit that works with immigrants called me last week to inquire if I could develop a Taekwondo program to help steer some of those kids from trouble. I'm meeting her tommorow to discuss the issue.


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## MJS (Jun 9, 2011)

What a bunch of punks!  EH is right...I highly doubt these chicken **** punks would dare try this on a younger, larger person.  Now, this isn't to say that size alone wouldnt mean they couldn't be KOd, but think about it...who's an easier target....a 70yo man who is small, doesnt weigh much, or a 30yo well built, in shape male?


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## LuckyKBoxer (Jun 9, 2011)

these are the types of people that good old fashioned vigilante beatdowns were meant for.


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## chinto (Jun 14, 2011)

well about 100 to 120 years ago they would have just got a rope and taken care of the problem.... well perhaps a dozen or more ropes...


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