After an 18-month hiatus, it appears that TikTok’s sick “door-kicking” challenge is back.
It’s a dumb and dangerous move considering “stand-your-ground” laws in some states.
This time, a group of teens in Florida has been accused of pulling the dumb and dangerous prank, in which cretins don masks and kick front doors in the middle of the night.
“My wife was having a panic attack at the time because she was just so absolutely distraught,” prank victim Jeffrey Gibson told Fox 35 Orlando of the cruel gag, which occurred Tuesday just after midnight at his home in Deltona.
A video of the stunt, captured via the Floridian’s Ring security camera, shows a shirtless youth, with a T-shirt obscuring his face, forcefully kicking Gibson’s door three times. The group then flees into a getaway vehicle and drives off.
The homeowner, who reportedly ran to the front door upon hearing the commotion, said that he initially didn’t realize it was a gag done for kicks.
“Until I saw the video, I didn’t even realize that it seemed to be some youths playing what appeared to be a very evil prank,” recalled Gibson.
The unidentified youth prepares to kick Jeffrey Gibson’s door while his buddies look on in the background.
Indeed, the “door kicking” challenge — one of many dangerous pursuits to circulate on TikTok — first came to light in 2021 via a series of viral videos on the platform.
In them, young people were seen kicking doors to the beat of the song “Die Young” by Kesha before running off.
Some offenders used enough force to kick open the doors during the stunt, which prompted multiple police calls from homeowners thinking it was a home invasion.
Needless to say, the stunt disturbed Gibson, who said that he didn’t know what he or the youths would have done had he opened the door when they were still there.
Gibson called the “door kicking” challenge “very evil.”
Volusia Sheriff’s Office
This was apparently not an isolated incident.
Approximately an hour and a half earlier, another woman who lived two miles away said someone had also kicked her door, prompting her husband to grab a gun and run to the front door.
Indeed, along with being illegal, the door-kicking challenge could potentially prove dangerous for the offender.
Following the emergence of the stunt in 2021, Jennifer Pritchard, of the Petaluma Police Department in California, said that people unfamiliar with TikTok pranks could interpret “a real life or death situation.”
“You don’t know what ways they’ll protect that could cause real, real harm,” she said at the time. “When people think their home or their family is threatened, they are going to give an equal response to protect their property or family.”
Gibson, for one, hopes the door will soon be slammed on the trend. “Hopefully, it goes away very soon because this is something that can get people harmed,” he said.
It’s is unclear if the Volusia Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident or how many homeowners have filed police reports.
* Article From: The New York Post
