35-year-old Brooklyn resident Barry Baldwin has been charged with hate crimes in connection with seven "knockout" assaults, including attacks on two elderly women and a mother who was working with her daughter, the NYPD said on Saturday, as reported by CNN.
"Baldwin was charged with six counts of assault as a hate crime, six counts of aggravated harassment as a hate crime and other crimes for for a spate of attacks between November 9 and December 27 in predominantly Jewish sections of Brooklyn, police said."
Baldwin has been involved with numerous "knockout" assaults, including on November 9 when he allegedly punched a 78 -year-old woman who was pushing a stroller... the victim was knocked to the ground. On December 7, he allegedly struck again, punching a 20-year-old woman in the back of the head in Brooklyn," CNN reported.
" After the attack on the woman walking with her 7-year-old daughter in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, police released a sketch of the suspect. The mother was punched in the back of the head and knocked down, police said. She sustained minor injuries to her knees and hands. The suspect fled on foot," CNN reported.
The "knockout" assault game involves people trying to knock a random stranger unconscious with a single blow. At least nine assaults have been reported since October in New York. Authorities have reported similar incidents in Connecticut, Illinois, Washington, Missouri and New Jersey.
Baldwin allegedly assaulted five more women between December 21 and December 27 . He was "arrested on December 29 by hate crimes detectives canvassing the neighborhoods where the previous attacks occurred, police said. He was charged after witnesses identified him in a police lineup," as reported by CNN.
