Illinois Cops Warn Of Social Media “Door Kick Challenge“

Over the years, social media has hatched all sorts of different "challenges" that have been wildly dangerous and discouraged by doctors, cops, parents, and pretty much anyone with a semi-mature brain in their head.

Nonetheless, these challenges continue to be spread by different social media platforms, and often wind up causing injury, provoking outrage, and forcing authorities to issue strong statements against taking part in them.

Some examples include:

• Cinnamon Challenge: Trying to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon powder without water. Risks: choking, lung damage, hospitalization.
• Dry Scooping Challenge: Consuming powdered pre-workout supplement without mixing with water. Risks: choking, heart attack, aspiration into lungs.
• Skull Breaker Challenge: Two people trip a third from behind while jumping, causing them to fall backward. Risks: concussions, spinal injury, death.
• Blackout Challenge (a.k.a. Pass-Out Challenge): Encourages restricting oxygen to induce brief unconsciousness. Risks: brain damage and death, especially among children.
• Benadryl Challenge: Involves taking large doses of diphenhydramine to hallucinate. Risks: seizures, heart problems, death.

And, going back several months, we've got the "Door Kick Challenge," in which participants kick in strangers’ doors, sometimes while masked or pretending to have weapons. Risks: I think you'll have no trouble guessing what those are.

Basically, the Door Kick Challenge Is Nothing But A Huge Escalation Of The Old-Timey Prank Of "Ding Dong Ditch," But With A Much Higher Level Of Danger

It’s a dangerous viral trend (which seems to have evolved on TikTok) where participants (typically teenagers) run up to random homes at night, violently kick the front door, record the act, and then flee the scene. And, it's happening everywhere across the nation, including here in the state of Illinois. All within the last year:

• Florida (DeBary): Two teens faced felony burglary charges after kicking open a homeowner’s door.
• Florida (Riverview): A super-dangerous variation took place that involved masked teens kicking in doors and firing realistic-looking airsoft guns, prompting law enforcement to warn of potentially fatal outcomes.
• Georgia (South Fulton): Authorities noted that some participants were shot as a result of startling homeowners by kicking in their front door. The homeowners assumed they were about to become victims of a violent home invasion.

This summer, there have been reports of the Door Kick Challenge taking place in dozens of different states, and one of the newest states to report the problem is Illinois.

There Have Been Door Kick Challenge Reports Here In Illinois, Too

In addition to door-kicking going on in Springfield that prompted neighborhood meetings and the installation of security cameras in multiple homes, the latest Door Kick Challenge reports come from suburban Sleepy Hollow, Illinois.

In late July, a female resident of Sleepy Hollow reported that she was awakened by what she thought was a tree falling on her house. When she got up to inspect, she couldn't find a downed tree or tree limbs. In the light of the following day, she discovered that her front door had been attacked and damaged, which cost her over $2,000 to repair. Hers was one of two houses to be hit within minutes of each other.

NBCChicago.com:

It's a crime Chief Sam Parma said could be more dangerous than expected.

"They have no idea who’s on the other side of the door," Parma told NBC Chicago. "They don’t know if it’s an elderly person who, because of this action, is going to cause them to go into a medical emergency. They don’t know if its going to be a veteran who has PTSD that’s going to react in a certain way. They don’t know if it’s going to be an armed homeowner who may react a certain way and if that ends up being tragic outcome where you get a kid getting shot where they’re doing something stupid... there’s absolutely no good outcome that could come from something like this."