Kids in Ontario are now kicking down random doors for social media clout
Young people have been known to do some really stupid things for internet clout in recent decades — some of them cruel, some of them gross, some of them potentially fatal — but there's a big difference between eating Tide PODS and performing criminal acts.
Ontario Provincial Police are currently seeking three "youths" who were recently captured by security cameras kicking in the door of a Port Dover, Ontario, home while laughing and filming themselves.
In a clip released on Twitter this week by the OPP's West Region, three people in light-coloured clothing with their hoods up can be seen approaching an exterior door around 1:25 a.m. on Saturday, November 20.
Two people hold up phones with camera flashes on and briefly film the third person making some hand gestures.
Then, the people (who sound like teenaged boys) urge each other to do something. "You go," says one, to which another laughs nervously and says "no."
Really! Social media challenge causes damage and scares residents after three youths kick in a front door in #PortDover. Do YOU recognize the clothing or the voices? Please call the #OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or @hncrimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477. @NorfolkCountyCA #NorfolkOPP ^es pic.twitter.com/ifRLygXMh0
— OPP West Region (@OPP_WR) November 22, 2021
Eventually, one of the hooded youths knocks on the door's glass window. A second one knocks again, and then the third party kicks the home's door wide open using a backward or "donkey" style kick.
Based on reaction to the video on Twitter, donkey seems like an appropriate kick style for these three mystery suspects.
"Really! Social media challenge causes damage and scares residents after three youths kick in a front door in Port Dover," wrote police when sharing the video late Monday afternoon.
"Do YOU recognize the clothing or the voices? Please call the #OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or @hncrimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477."
A TikTok search reveals that this kicking down doors business is, in fact, a thing that some youths have been filming themselves doing and posting online in recent months, often to the beat of Ke$ha's 2012 hit Die Young.
I don’t care how many times you play Kesha and try to kick down my door💀 Once my head hits that pillow I AM NOT getting up to check to see who did it😂😂 https://t.co/bsiUcPicZT
— DSMËËZY (@DiavianSpencer) October 25, 2021
The trend appears to have originated in dorm rooms but has evolved to the outside world. Videos from all over North America show young people either banging aggressively or flat out kicking open everything from high school classrooms and hotel rooms to local businesses and abandoned houses.
British newspapers started covering the trend in October after a local police force issued a warning, one of them writing that "yobs are filming themselves as they smash in doors and then scarper as part of a sickening new TikTok craze."
Silly as it all sounds, the people seen in the OPP video shared on Monday could stand to face serious consequences for their actions, especially if they're over 18.
Breaking and entering carries with it a potential life sentence under the Criminal Code of Canada — though it could be argued that the youths didn't enter, only broke it.
Still, in such a case, they could face mischief charges for willfully destroying or damaging property. Depending on the value of the door, such an offence could carry with it a punishment of up to 10 years in prison for mischief resulting in damage over $5,000, two years imprisonment for under $5,000.
A criminal record, in any case, likely isn't worth a few moments of attention on TikTok for anyone.
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