Conrad Alvin Barrett: White Man Playing Knockout Game Attacks Elderly Black Man, Charged With Hate Crime

The Knockout Game has struck again, and after a white man named Conrad Alvin Barrett broke the jaw of a 79-year-old black man, federal authorities have stepped in and charged the alleged assailant with a hate crime.

The incident happened in Texas, where 27-year-old Conrad Alvin Barrett is accused of recording himself on a cell phone camera as he assaulted the 79-year-old man. A criminal complaint against Barrett said he laughed and said “Knockout” as he ran away after the assault. The November 24 attack left the elderly man with a broken jaw.

“Suspected crimes of this nature will simply not be tolerated,” said Kenneth Magidson, the US attorney for the southern district of Texas. “Evidence of hate crimes will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted with the assistance of all our partners to the fullest extent of the law.”

The story goes against one of the major media narratives about the Knockout Game that it is being played mostly by groups of black youths against white and Jewish victims.

The “game” involves youths selecting a victim at random and seeing if they can knock that person out with a single blow. There have been several high-profile instances of the game, including an attack in New Jersey in September that left a 46-year-old Hoboken man dead of a broken neck. Police said Ralph Eric Santiago was found dead wedged between iron fence posts after a group of youths attacked him.

There were reports that the Knockout Game was spreading, including alleged incidences in Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, and even London.

The Knockout Game instance in Texas has led to discussion over whether Conrad Alvin Barrett is being unfairly targeted for a hate crime when black participants have not. But authorities said that Barrett made his racially-motivated intentions clear before the attack.

“The plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?” Barrett says in the video, according to the authorities.

But Conrad Alvin Barrett is not the only Knockout Game participant to be charged with a hate crime. Last month, New York authorities charged one person with a hate crime after targeting a Jewish man.