Van Buren police aren't laughing at social media door kicking stunt; suspects sought | FOX 2 Detroit

Van Buren police aren't laughing at social media door kicking stunt; suspects sought

A simple search on social media will result in home security videos of people kicking front doors of homes and running.

The videos come from all over country and now you can add Van Buren Township to the list.

Local perspective:

"I saw the trend but I didn’t realize it was happening around here until yesterday," said Janna Roberts.

Van Buren Township police say they took two reports of doors being kicked this past weekend.

"It’s a quiet neighborhood, family-oriented," she said.  "This is not the neighborhood to come in and do that."

A video was submitted to police showing three young males walking the sidewalk in broad daylight when one darts across and allegedly kicks the door of a home.

"And I immediately thought this is unsafe. in this world today, you can’t go around playing like that," Roberts said.

Van Buren Township police say while this may be a trend on social media, it is no joke and considered a felony. Police promise it will prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Roberts for one, says she’s glad police are giving this matter attention.

"Police are taking this serious and we are too as homeowners," she said.

She says there are a lot of people in the township who take home security very seriously, meaning what is intended to be a prank can go wrong quickly.

"We can’t all keep donating to GoFundMe's when these young people aren’t handling their business - you are going to kick in the wrong door," she said.

Police do have video of the suspects and now neighbors are becoming more aware.

"You’re on Ring cameras, it’s not hard to figure it out," she said.

The hope is the suspects themselves will realize the gravity of the situation and turn themselves in.

"We have to find something more productive," Roberts said. "We played games as kids but we didn’t put our lives in danger like that."

The Source: Information from the Van Buren Township police and an interview with a resident contributed to this report.

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