A white man has been arrested on US federal hate crimes charges for allegedly shooting video of himself sucker-punching a 79-year-old black man in a “knockout game”-style attack.
Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, made a brief appearance on Thursday before US Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy, who scheduled a detention hearing for the man yesterday.
Prosecutors said the attack happened on Nov. 24 in the town of Katy, but it was not until 12 days later that US authorities connected the attack to the cellphone video of it.
Authorities learned of the case because Barrett allegedly showed the video on the night of the attack to an off-duty US arson investigator he had just met at a restaurant in nearby Folshear.
According to the criminal complaint, Barrett asked the off-duty investigator and the woman with the investigator if they knew about the knockout game.
He told them he played earlier that day, then showed them the video, prosecutors allege.
The investigator then flagged down a uniformed officer across the street and led him to Barrett.
The attack video does not show Barrett’s face, but investigators matched his voice to the voice in the video and the couple at the restaurant told investigators that Barrett was wearing the same shorts and shoes as the person who shot the video.
According to prosecutors, the video shows Barrett approach the victim and ask: “How’s it going, man?”
A “loud smack” is then heard, the victim falls to the ground, Barrett laughs and says: “Knockout.”
The assailant then flees in his vehicle.
The victim lost three teeth and needed surgery to repair his jaw, which had been broken in two places. He was hospitalized for more than four days, authorities said.
Investigators retrieved other videos from Barrett’s phone, including some in which he uses racial epithets and talks about trying to work up the courage to play the knockout game, the complaint states.
In one, Barrett says: “That plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?”
US Attorney Kenneth Magidson said on Thursday that such crimes would not be tolerated.
“Evidence of hate crimes will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted with the assistance of all our partners to the fullest extent of the law,” Magidson said.
Barrett’s attorney, George Parnham, said Barrett has bipolar disorder and has been prescribed heavy medications to treat it.
He said Barrett’s family “feels horribly sympathetic” for the person who was attacked.
“When you start peeling back the layers of the onion and look at the mindset behind the action you soon realize there’s a mental issue,” said Parnham, who added that he is trying to gather as much information about Barrett’s mental health as possible.
If convicted of the hate crime charge, Barrett could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined up to US$250,000.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was