What to Know
- A 65-year-old man was walking down a street in Brooklyn Heights when a man ran up to him and sucker punched him
- The victim fell into a yard and the attacker casually walked off with the group he was with
- The sucker punch may have been part of a knockout game attack
A 65-year-old man was walking down a street in Brooklyn Heights when he was sucker punched by another man in an attack that sent him toppling over a fence into a yard, police said.
Richard Carey was walking in front of 99 Joralemon Street, 20 feet from his front door, on the night of July 6 when he was approached by three men and one woman, surveillance video shows.
As the group walks past the victim, one of the men runs at him and punches him in the face.
"Next thing I knew I was upside down in the bushes, simple as that," said Carey.
Video shows the victim lying upside down against the fence as the group casually walks away. Emergency responders arrived and took the victim to an area hospital, where he needed stitches to his left eye.
Carey, who says he has lived in the city for nearly 40 years, said as a longtime New Yorker, he knows "some people are looking to cause trouble."
"We all have eyes in the back of our head," he said. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was rude; it was rude."
Carey said his attacker didn't say a word before socking him, and he wondered if the random punch was to impress his friends. Police are investigating the attack, which bears resemblance to previous knockout game attacks.
The NYPD asks anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
