Knockout Game? Michigan Tasing -- And Shooting -- Take It To A New Level
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) The so-called "Knockout Game" is moving its way across cities like Chicago and St. Louis, with teens allegedly challenging each other to approach a stranger and punch them unconscious while filming it and later sharing it on sites like You Tube.
But one case in Lansing allegedly brought it a whole new level.
A man told a local news affiliate there he was waiting at a bus stop this summer with his 8-year-old daughter when -- bam -- he was hit. But it wasn't just by an angry fist.
"He shoved something into my side," the alleged victim said, adding "I wasn't sure what it was, it had some force to it."
It turned out to be a Taser, a device that sends an electrical charge through its victim's body, rendering them momentarily helpless.
"He thinks he's getting stabbed or robbed or something," Lansing Police Department public information officer Robert Merritt told CBS Detroit.
This intended victim, though, was armed. He pulled out his legally obtained .40 caliber pistol and shot Marvell Weaver in the buttocks. Not seriously injured, Weaver, 17, was charged and sentenced to one year behind bars.
Merritt said Weaver told officers he and his pals were just driving around with the Taser, smoking pot and drinking, and looking for someone to hit with it. During court depositions, he started describing the situation as a game they were playing, Merritt said.
Saying he had played it with friends multiple times before the shooting, Weaver told the local news his prison sentence made the incident a "lesson learned."
"We've never run into this at all in the city of Lansing," Merritt told CBS Detroit, adding it was the first time officers had heard of such a situation in town.
A Republican New York state legislator has proposed special charges that would make such unprovoked assaults a 25-year felony.
"Clearly, these are not young gentlemen — they're punks, they're thugs, they're cowards," Jim Tedisco said, according to CBS New York.
