A university student in Ferguson, Mo. was the apparent victim of the “knockout game” attack and a news cameraman was punched multiple times in the face Thursday.
The student was near the Ferguson McDonald’s when a witness says he was sucker-punched, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Employees at the restaurant provided immediate aid, and the victim was transported to a hospital.
A news cameraman with Kansas City’s KMBC was also attacked in a separate incident, according to the Post-Dispatch. The station’s reporter, Eli Rosenberg, sent a tweet saying that a man walked up to the cameraman and punched him multiple times in the face.
A guy just walked up and punched my photographer in the face 4 times. People in the crowd rushed to help, the guy ran. #Ferguson #MikeBrown
— Eli Rosenberg (@EliKMBC) August 15, 2014
The camerman suffered a swollen left eye but was not seriously injured.
Paramedics say Dan will feel it in the morning, but should be okay. #Ferguson #MikeBrown pic.twitter.com/rjx7d0ZH4x
— Eli Rosenberg (@EliKMBC) August 15, 2014
The McDonald’s where the student was punched was the scene of a widely-reported incident that occurred on Wednesday. There, two reporters were briefly detained by police for filming officers and for refusing to heed officers’ orders to leave the restaurant.
The incident received heavy coverage and was cited as an example of police heavy-handedness.
The attacks on Thursday occurred as both CNN and MSNBC touted what they claimed was a vast improvement in the interaction between police and protesters compared to previous days.
Following a tense night Wednesday, Gov. Jay Nixon announced that he was relieving the St. Louis County police department of command of the Ferguson protests. The Missouri State Highway Patrol took over, and is being led by Capt. Ron Johnson.
Johnson, who is black, was called upon to engage the Ferguson community, which is predominantly black, rather than continue with the tactics used by Ferguson and St. Louis County police. Those departments monitored Ferguson’s streets wearing military-grade gear. They also fired tear gas and rubber bullets on several nights of protesting.
The protests are being held in response to the death of Brown who was unarmed when he was shot by a Ferguson police officer last Saturday.