(JTA) — A Brooklyn man accused of several so-called knockout game attacks in the New York borough was charged with hate crimes.
Barry Baldwin, 35, was charged with six counts each of assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime for attacks that allegedly took place in heavily Jewish neighborhoods from Nov. 9 to late December, the New York Police Department said Saturday, according to New York media.
Others charges include menacing and endangering the welfare of a child.
The victims were all Jewish women who ranged in age from 20 to 78. One of the victims fell on the small child she was holding during the attack.
Baldwin was arrested on Dec. 28 by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force.
“This arrest is welcome news to all of us, but I continue to urge caution,” state Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) said in a statement. “No one in our community should live in fear, but prudence is always advisable.”
In the so-called knockout game, attackers try to knock out an individual with one punch. Other incidents of knockout attacks have occurred in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., as well as other U.S. states, according to reports.
A Long Island, N.Y., man was arrested in mid-December in connection with four other knockout attacks that date back as far as April.
