Pennsylvania officials announce charges in 2 cases involving TikTok challenges
Pennsylvania officials are warning about the dangers of social media challenges after two recent incidents ended in tragedy.
Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta announced charges, including involuntary manslaughter, on Tuesday in two cases involving TikTok challenges.
"Our release with regard to these charges was not designed to stigmatize either of the victims or the families, and there's nothing to celebrate about this," Baratta said in a press conference. "The incidents were horrific in regard to the outcome."
Prosecutors said the two cases involve teenage drivers in Bethlehem Township.
In one case, a 17-year-old boy was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of a 17-year-old boy in the parking lot of Freedom High School on June 1, according to the DA's office.
The teen driver allegedly roped an upside-down folding table to the back of his vehicle and pulled the table through the high school parking lot while his friend was sitting on the table, Baratta said in a news release.
The DA alleges the teen driver was driving recklessly, causing the teen on the table to whip into a parked car and die.
In the other case, the DA said a woman suffered permanent head injuries after she was thrown from a moving car in the Park and Ride parking lot on William Penn Highway on March 18.
A 19-year-old woman is being charged in connection with the incident, Baratta said. The woman was driving with her 20-year-old friend "surfing" on the trunk as part of a social media challenge when the 20-year-old was thrown from the vehicle, the DA said.
The 20-year-old woman suffered what the DA said were permanent "catastrophic head injuries."
The 19-year-old driver has been charged with aggravated assault, aggravated assault by vehicle and two vehicle code charges, Baratta said.
"I need to note that the families were realistic and acknowledged that all participants in these TikTok challenges were attracted by the risk of danger," Baratta said. "In other words, they're not claiming that their children who were tragically injured were forced to participate. They agreed to participate."
"The parents of these victims expressed disappointment both in their own children for participating in these stunt challenges and with regard to the close friends of their children who agreed to place their children at risk of death," the DA added.
Prosecutors are not seeking prison time in the two cases, but hope the charges serve as a deterrent.
"The parents were also concerned that if no charges were brought, only the victims would pay the ultimate price for their injuries and not the drivers who actually caused the injuries," Baratta said.
Baratta said the resolution will not be a permanent stain on the future of these defendants.
"To be more specific, I promised these families that in return for the admission by these drivers that they engaged in this criminally reckless behavior, there will be public accountability," Baratta said, "and that after a successful completion of a period of supervision, these defendants will have the opportunity to ask that their criminal charges be expunged."
Baratta said he doesn't anticipate that there will be a trial, but that decision is up to the defendants.
"This is what, I believe, the parents are hoping for," Baratta said. "That the drivers acknowledge that their behavior was criminally reckless and they're responsible for the injuries."
The Northampton County district attorney warned parents about the dangers of social media stunt challenges.
"[Social media companies] don't expose themselves to criminal liability, but there's a moral obligation, and that they glorify these dangerous stunts," Baratta said. "If you go online and put in car surfing, or — I know in New York City, they surf on top of subway cars and circulate those videos all over. And this 'table surfing' is all over social media."
"When you watch that as an adult, you know that it's horribly dangerous," he added, "and there's no way you'd want your child to engage in that type of activity, whether you're the person to ride on the table or the person who's going to drag along their friend behind the car. It's ridiculous. Yeah, they glorify. Those social media accounts glorify this type of behavior."
Neither of the teen drivers being charged has been identified.