Elderly man victimized in 'knockout game' style attack

HOUSTON

A source close to the investigation tells me that a man in his 80s spent more than four days in the hospital after he was violently attacked in what one officer calls one of the most disturbing cases he's ever seen. It happened in the 600 block of Danover on November 24.

Joseph Lewis, who says he's the victim's nephew, said, "His face was swollen on the side, said he had three plates in there. He said he sucking out of a straw."

According to court documents, later that day an off-duty Fulshear police officer was with his wife at a bar and grill in Fulshear when a man they had never met before admitted to the attack. Authorities say he introduced himself and asked if they knew what the "knockout game" was. Similarly labeled attacks have occurred nationwide as young people apparently challenge themselves to knock out unsuspecting victims with a single punch, with the assaults recorded on video.

Pearlie Haynes, a friend of the victim, said, "He's a good man. He don't bother nobody, he don't mess with nobody. He mind his own business."

The man went on to allegedly tell the officer he'd played the knockout game that "very evening" and that he "felt bad for doing it and that he had to make himself numb by consuming alcohol..."

Among court documents is a picture of that man's phone. Records indicate the man then showed the officer video of the attack which he took on that phone. The officer says the victim was struck with a fist without provocation and that he then fell to the concrete drive. It took police days to figure out who the victim was. Friends and neighbors want to know why the man who showed the officer the video has not been arrested.

The Katy Police Department says it is still investigating. The FBI is now helping, looking at whether there could be a hate crime in this case, since the victim is black and the assailant is white.

So far there have been no arrests nor any charges filed. We have reached out to the man listed as the attacker in court documents. So far he has not responded to our request for his side of the story.

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