Cops seek attacker after brutal ‘knockout’ game caught on video

Paterson Police are investigating an apparent attack — after a video spread on social media, showing a person getting slugged in the face and knocked out spread on social media.

In the video, a young man approaches the apparent victim as others off-camera yell "don't hit him." The a young man says something to the person that cannot be heard.

The young man turns back to the camera, and another voice tells him "knock him out." The young man throws a punch at the victim, who falls flat, as an off-camera voice laughs heartily.

After many receiving many reports about the video, Police director Jerry Speziale said in a video posted on the Paterson Police Facebook page that the incident is being "vetted out" as to where and when it occured, and who created the video.

"Once that is determined, we will take swift and decisive action as we will not tolerate that type of behavior or  action in our city," he said.

The incident seems to another occurrence of "the knockout game" in which an unsuspecting person is punched in the face. Legislation in 2014 sought to toughen penalties for the game. While a third-degree aggravated assault charge does not generally lead to jail time, the legislation would have made a year in prison mandatory — requiring an offender serve at least a third of a three-year sentence or a fifth of a five-year sentence.