Teens Involved in Fatal Knockout Game Sentenced to Jail, Probation

A 14-year-old who prosecutors say killed a Hoboken man with a fatal punch last year and his two friends involved in what police believe was a game of “knockout” have been sentenced, according to a report in The Jersey Journal.

Ralph Erick Santiago, 46, was walking along Third Street on Sept. 10 when the three teenagers, all from Jersey City, began to follow him and the 14-year-old in the group punched him in the head, according to reports.

Santiago was found slumped over an iron fence shortly after 6 p.m. Surveillance video later showed how he fell on the fence after being struck.

The three boys turned themselves in two weeks after the incident after police released images of the “persons of interest.”

The 14-year-old boy will serve six years in juvenile prison after pleading guilty to murder. The other boys, both 13, were sentenced to probation. One will serve a year of probation after pleading guilty to the obstruction of administration of law or other governmental function . The other, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, will serve a year and a half probation.

Knockout is a violent game which involves attempting to make a random stranger unconscious with a single blow to the head.