Sometimes pranks are harmless.
And often trends on TikTok are innocuous or at least stay with users on that platform.
This was not the case with the most recent TikTok Challenge, charmingly called The Bucket Challenge, which sent a mom to the hospital over the weekend. In what authorities believe to be a TikTok prank, a group of teenage boys placed a bucket on the head of a California mom as she was shopping at a nearby Target.
According to The Los Angeles Times and FOX station KTTV, Lana Clay-Monaghan was shopping in the baby section of the Target in Tustin, California on Sunday when the bucket was suddenly placed over her head.
Clay-Monaghan, in an interview with KTTV, said the last thing she remembers before passing out is asking the boys for help while they laughed.
According to the Tustin Police Department (TPD), four teenage boys are thought to be responsible for their attempt to gain social media clout. The boys appeared too young to have driven, so they are believed to be local and would have "walked or used public transportation."
They are working with local schools to identify the perpetrators.
Comments on the Tustin Police Department's Facebook post about the incident were highly critical of the teens behavior and lack of empathy and common sense.
Several people said someone is really going to get hurt.
@swaggyp/Facebook
You can never know someone's medical condition from just watching them.
@jenifer.reinhardt.9/Facebook
Many people called for the boys' punishment to set an example for others.
@ollada/Facebook
These aren't exactly genius criminal masterminds, though.
@dtwithers/Facebook
People were speculating about the woman's health, but others replied it doesn't matter if a person has an underlying condition.
Putting a bucket on someone's head unexpectedly is not okay.
@qpe4ha/Facebook
Others added recommendations for being vigilant.
@alexispaige/Facebook
But who thinks this is okay to do?
@teri.babb.3/Facebook
A lot of people agreed the teens should face consequences once they are caught.
@100047293140096/Facebook
Someone argued they belong in juvenile detention.
@lynda.cain.1/TikTok
This should count as assault and battery, many suggested.
@karen.palma.9461/Facebook
The case is unfolding, but hopefully with this incident the bucket challenge wwillquickly become a fad of the past.
