Just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, a group of children ran toward Bridgette Cooper's front door on Hazel Avenue in Upper Darby. One of them kicked it open. Her husband was home.
Cooper told NBC10 Philadelphia the impact startled him and sent debris onto the floor. She believes the kick may be connected to a social media trend. Upper Darby police are investigating and have not determined whether a crime was committed.
What the Camera Caught
Cooper said it happened along Hazel Avenue on Nov. 10. Surveillance video shows the group running toward the door before one kick forces it open. NBC10 blurred the children's faces in the footage it published.
What Cooper Asked of the Block
Cooper described the incident as dangerous and warned that a prank like this could have serious consequences. She shared the video to alert neighbors and urged them to stay watchful and contact police about suspicious activity.
Her suspicion is specific: kids recording themselves running up to homes, kicking or banging on doors, and running away. That is her belief about a possible connection, not a finding about why these children were on Hazel Avenue.
A Challenge Other Departments Describe
Police in other cities have described a similar stunt, without tying those cases to Upper Darby. The Irvine Police Department has warned residents about a "Door Kick Challenge" that involves kicking front doors, recording the act, and fleeing before anyone answers. Irvine police said the challenge was circulating on social media again, raising concerns about property damage, frightened homeowners, and confrontations that could turn dangerous.
The damage has been concrete in some of those other reports. Phoenix police arrested a 14-year-old boy accused of kicking in the front doors of a North Phoenix home, in an incident investigators there believe was connected to the challenge and that caused an estimated $10,000 in damage. Phoenix investigators described the trend as people recording themselves kicking or banging on home doors before running away.
In Westboro, Massachusetts, police reported several recent attempts by strangers to kick down doors in the middle of the night and said no one had been hurt. They called it a dangerous TikTok trend. Resident Amy Dwyer said an attempted kick-in damaged a custom front door that would cost $4,000 to replace. Melissa Gonzalez said someone tried to kick in her door at 2 a.m. one night the previous month; she later installed cameras around her home.
NBC News reported on July 23, 2025, that door-kicking incidents were showing up on security cameras across the country, prompting warnings to teens and parents. None of those accounts establishes that the same people, or the same motive, were involved on Hazel Avenue.
Where Pennsylvania Law Sits
Under 18 Pa.C.S. § 3304, criminal mischief includes intentionally damaging another person's real or personal property. The offense is a third-degree felony if the actor intentionally causes a pecuniary loss of more than $5,000, or substantially interrupts or impairs specified public services.
The statute does not settle what happened on Hazel Avenue. Upper Darby police have not determined whether a crime was committed, and the door is already repaired. Cooper's request of the neighborhood is the part with a next step: if something looks off, call police.
