Individual kicks Cambridge woman’s door for TikTok challenge (update)

During a Sunday family dinner at her parent's house, in Cambridge, on November 14, Kylie Sousa's husband got an alert to his phone from their home security system – a video of someone kicking their front door.

“He showed me the video of an individual at our front door, donkey kicking it,” said Sousa. “My first instinct was someone was trying to break into our house.”

Sousa said she was shocked, “I had never seen anything like it.”

The challenge appears to have started, and gained popularity, as a prank at university dorms. The Kesha song “Die Young” is used for the challenge. It has two bangs at the end of its opening line, so the individual plays the song, and attempts to kick a door in sync with the song. It has been shared widely on the social media platform, and seems to have now expanded to homes.

“You can see another person on the side walk, filming, but after the person kicked my door, he yells to the other individual to run, run, run,” added Sousa. She added you can hear the Kesha song playing on the security video.

A spokesperson from TikTok stated, “While we have not seen this trending on our platform, we expect our community to create responsibly and will remove content that encourages vandalism and other criminal activities.”

On Monday, OPP tweeted a similar incident in Port Dover. OPP is investigating the occurrence, but said they aren't aware of any other incidents in that area.

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

Sousa said she reported the incident to Waterloo Regional Police on Thursday. Police said possible charges for this incident could include mischief and/or trespassing.

“They were doing it for the thrill, for sure,” said Sousa. She also confirmed there was no damage to her door or property. “You go through so many different scenarios when something like this happens. Dunbar Road is right there, Hespeler Road is close as well. We're close to those busy areas where they could run toward the mall, or the park across the street.”

Sousa said she hopes others in her neighbourhood are now aware that this trend is circulating. “I live in a community where there's elderly people … to them, something like this can be extremely scary, and they don't have social media, they have no idea what's going on.”

On late Thursday afternoon, Sousa said she got a knock on her door. “It was the person that kicked my door. He was brave enough to apologize. He told me his name, that he was from out of town, he's only 15-years-old, and it was just something him and his buddy were doing to mess around.”

Sousa said, to her, that really means something and shows a lot of courage. His friends tried to talk him out of apologizing, but he really wanted to face-to-face apologize. 

“I asked him if he learned something from this,” added Sousa, “I told him I notified police, but the fact that he did apologize meant something.” 

Sousa said she will not pursue pressing charges against the teen.