By India McCarty
Two Pennsylvania teens face charges after prosecutors claim they encouraged friends to take part in a TikTok trend that left one dead and another permanently injured.
“These families are seeking accountability and hope that these charges will result in deterrence for other youth who may find themselves attracted to the thrill of mimicking dangerous social media challenges that have the potential to injure others,” Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta said of the cases.
The incidents were similar but unrelated. In one, a 17-year-old died after falling from a folding table that was tied to the back of his friend’s car. In the other case, a 20-year-old was “surfing” on a friend’s car trunk and fell, suffering “catastrophic head injuries that will be permanent in nature,” per Baratta’s office.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLDrgcpqzWU
Related: Deadly TikTok Trends Spark Lawsuits, Possible Bans
Both were TikTok trends that the young people were trying to emulate. The two drivers have been charged with reckless driving.
“We have had two criminal investigations involving the dangerous and reckless use of an automobile to create what are known as stunt challenges,” Baratta said during a press briefing announcing the charges. “It’s important for the public to understand that these challenges can have severe, real-world consequences, creating significant risk to participants and sometimes the bystanders as well.”
Speaking of the two teenagers who have been charged, he said, “They were not planning to injure their victims. However, in both incidents, the action of these drivers were so grossly negligent and reckless that it constituted a criminal, culpable state of mind.”
A spokesperson for TikTok said content that “promotes dangerous behavior which may lead to serious injury” is always removed from the app.
“To further discourage such content from being posted or replicated, we redirect related searches such as ‘table surfing’ to our resources support page for online challenges,” the spokesperson continued.
They added that, between January and March of this year, “99.8% of the videos removed for violating TikTok’s dangerous activities and challenges policy were taken down proactively, with 92.4% of them receiving no views.”
Baratta said he doesn’t see these cases going to trial, as both the accused are first-time offenders. Additionally, the parents of the deceased “do not want other families to go through the same horror and pain that they had to endure, [but] ultimately, there needed to be accountability for the death and the permanent brain injury to these two victims.”
These latest lawsuits and horrible accidents should remind parents to talk to their children about stunts they might see online, and why it’s so important to not attempt dangerous activities simply for social media views and likes.
Read Next: Parents Sue TikTok After Children Die Attempting Popular ‘Blackout Challenge’
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