KC-area woman sucker punched by stranger on camera. She fears it was part of a game

An Independence woman was a few steps from home when a man quickly approached her, looked in her eye as he apologized and then sucker punched her.

Savannah Sexton was knocked backward onto the pavement of a parking lot at the Hudson Apartment Homes, near Truman Road and Cunningham Avenue. It was about 12:15 a.m. Saturday, and the 30-year-old woman said she managed to get up and run toward her apartment.

Horrified, she screamed for her boyfriend, she said.

Police later told Sexton that the man may have been dared to find a random stranger to punch as part of a so-called "Knockout Game."

But police spokesman Luis Virgil said police cannot say with certainty that is the explanation.

Virgil said police canvassed the area and within a half hour found a man who met the description that Sexton gave them. She positively identified the man.

Virgil said the man was issued a municipal citation for assault.

Sexton told The Star she'd never seen the man before.

"He looked at me in the face, said 'I'm sorry' and then punched me in the face," she said.

The entire ordeal was caught on a neighbor's surveillance camera.

"Thank goodness that camera was rolling," Sexton said Tuesday night.

Sexton suffered internal bruising of her jaw and hip. She also has an abrasion on her elbow.

She implored others to walk with a friend or some form of protection.

"He came like a monster out of nowhere in the night," she said.