New York Assemblyman James Tedisco proposed legislation this week that would stiffen penalties for “knockout” attacks by “punks.” Tedisco’s bill would make the violent game a gang assault with a sentence of up to 25 years.
CBS Local reported:
CBS Albany reported:
Assemblyman James Tedisco proposes stiffening penalties for assaults that are committed by “punks” who treat it as a game when they sucker punch people without warning and try to knock them unconcious.
“Killing or injuring a person with one punch is no game and the state’s criminal penalties to prosecute these dastardly individuals should not be a joke,” said the Glenville republican in a news release. Tedisco says Senator Hugh Farley is a co-sponsor of the Knockout Assault Deterrent Act, which he said was being drafted Thursday.
It would provide for sentences of up to twenty-five years and would eliminate the availablility of youthful offender status for convicts. Tedisco wants to hold liable any person who takes part in such a crime, not only those who do the punching.
The so-called game has been around for years but police in several states have been seeing a spike in these types of assaults.
