How a viral TikTok trend could land you in jail
By Rachael Perry
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PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida (WPBF) — A viral social media challenge is raising concerns nationwide, including in communities on the Treasure Coast.
The trend is known as the door-kicking challenge, and officials are warning of both the dangers and legal consequences.
A homeowner in Port St Lucie recently posted a video to social media claiming someone was aggressively kicking and banging on their door overnight. They said the person appeared to be going to several homes in the neighborhood.
People in the comments quickly suspected it may have been teens taking part in the viral challenge.
WPBF 25 News caught up with Master Sgt Dominick Mesiti, who explained how the challenge works and what makes it so dangerous.
“You’ll either have juveniles or young adults tend to conceal their identity, maybe armed with a foe weapon or not, a pellet gun or a BB gun that looks real, and they attempt to kick in the front door of a residence during the middle of the night, alerting the residence at 2 a.m. or whatever have you,” Mesiti said.
He said the trend is especially dangerous in the state of Florida.
“We have the Stand Your Ground laws plus the Castle Doctrine, where you can use reasonable force up to and including deadly force to protect yourself. At 2 a.m., if somebody’s kicking your door in and you don’t know their intention, then it could end very, very poorly,” he said.
Two teens were arrested in Volusia County after officials said they were caught on camera, one wearing a mask, walking up to a home and kicking in the door before running away.
The Volusia County Sheriff, Mike Chitwood, said it’s “a good way to end up dead, especially in Florida.”
“You got to think you’re about to become a victim of a home invasion robbery, and you’re under a castle doctrine. You’re going to shoot first and ask questions later,” Chitwood told WESH 2 News. “You’re endangering your future with this TikTok challenge. You know, you’re going to be charged with a felony.”
Master Sgt. Dominick Mesiti echoed that by explaining the legal consequences.
“When you’re physically trying to kick in a door, you likely damage the door, which is criminal mischief. If you make entry into the home, you’re looking at a trespass at a minimum, maybe even a burglary charge, because your intent is obviously to scare or breach the peace. So, if there’s an intent to commit a crime within a home, that’s a burglary. So you’re looking at several different charges that you could be facing by attempting this type of, quote unquote, prank,” he said.
On top of the legal consequences, Mesiti said the threat to life is extremely concerning. He said the PSLPD hopes parents take the time to explain that to their children.
“Tell their children not to give in to peer pressure and educate them on what the consequences are legally and just in general, where they could be seriously injured or maybe even killed attempting to do such a prank,” he added.
When it comes to the use of force, Mesiti said it’s a case-by-case basis; however, he emphasized the importance of understanding the laws and being responsible gun owners.
“You need to know what your rights are as far as protecting yourself and your property. And there is a risk to it. Law enforcement will get involved, and we will conduct an investigation. It will go to a grand jury if there’s a death involved, and that’s up to a grand jury to decide if the homeowner did or did not properly utilize that kind of force,” Mesiti said.
To avoid that from happening, he said it’s important that people report these incidents to help law enforcement prevent a tragedy.
“Our goal is to prevent something from happening. We don’t want to have to make an arrest, especially if it’s a juvenile conducting a prank, but if they’re damaging property, if they’re intentionally trying to kick a door in, if they’re intentionally trying to scare people, there may be legal consequences,” he told WPBF.
He said after seeing cases nationwide of children and teens taking part in pranks like ding-dong ditching and being killed in the process, these conversations are crucial.
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