WESTON, Fla. – Local police departments are offering a warning as a TikTok challenge appears to be spreading.
Teenagers have been seen kicking homes in several South Florida neighborhoods.
In the TikTok videos, the Kesha song “Die Young” plays in the background and then, on the beat, the people in the video kick doors and run away.
It happened in at least two Broward County neighborhoods over the weekend.
Video from a house in Davie shows a young man kicking a door once before running away with a large group of friends.
Another video from a home in Weston shows two people run at the house and then run away again, after the homeowner said they kicked his garage door and dented it.
Sergeant Arik Levy is with the Broward Sheriff’s Office and says while this might seem like a harmless prank, it’s something that should be taken seriously.
“If you’re damaging somebody’s door, that’s going to be criminal mischief,” said Sgt. Levy. “They might not know that this is a TikTok challenge or some other prank. They might think that it could possibly rise to a level of a home invasion. The response to that can be physical, all of the way up to lethal force.”
Levy said the important thing is for parents to be paying attention. He said with surveillance and security systems nowadays, it’s pretty easy to identify people in videos like these.
He added while this might seem like a harmless prank, it isn’t worth potentially doing it to the wrong person.