Why dangerous TikTok challenge has schools, police all fired up

What do you get when you cross the worst elements of social media with the most reckless instincts of kids?

These days it’s the “Chromebook Challenge,” a TikTok-fueled fad that has students across the country intentionally setting fire to their school-issued laptop computers.

The challenge involves students shoving metallic objects such as paper clips, pins, scissors or pencil graphite into a laptop’s USB or charging port to cause short circuits, sparks, smoke and even flames.

Now suburban police and fire departments are joining school districts in warning parents of the potential for danger, or at least a hefty replacement bill.

Among them is the Roselle Police Department, which took to social media to warn of the “dangerous TikTok trend.”

“In several instances, Chromebooks have caught fire or released toxic smoke, creating a serious fire hazard and potential health risk,” the department said. “Even more alarming — this behavior is escalating. Students are reportedly targeting wall outlets and other electronics, putting themselves, classmates, and school staff in danger.”

So far, fortunately, we’ve found no cases in the suburbs that have led to serious fires, injuries or arrests. Other locales haven’t been so lucky — students have been arrested on charges of setting fires in New Jersey, Connecticut, the Los Angeles area and elsewhere, and schools have been evacuated in places including New York and California because of challenge-induced fires.

Back home, Schaumburg Township Elementary School District 54 has seen a “handful” of laptops damaged by students trying the challenge, said Terri McHugh, the district’s executive director of community relations.

“We’ve asked families to speak with their students about the importance of using school equipment safely and responsibly,” she added.

Other districts issuing warnings include Wheeling Township District 21, Palatine Township District 15 and Downers Grove District 58.

“It’s something we’re trying to get out ahead of,” District 58 Community Relations Coordinator Megan Hewitt told us. “Fortunately we haven’t had an episode in one of our schools, but we want to be proactive.”

In his letter to the community, District 21 Superintendent Michael Connolly asks parents to monitor their children’s social media use and remind them that their school device isn’t a toy.

“This behavior is extremely dangerous and harmful,” he wrote.

And in District 15 — where officials also have seen equipment damaged — Superintendent Laurie Heinz and Chief Technology Officer Mary Jane Warden warn of not only the danger, but the financial consequences.

“These actions may cause harm to students and will render the device beyond repair,” they wrote. “Inoperable devices will disrupt learning and will incur replacement costs of $440 per Chromebook that families will be required to pay.”

Dehydrated driving?

We all know it’s a bad idea to drive after drinking too much, but what about after drinking too little?

A state appeals court weighed that issue this month in the case of a former Cook County forest preserve worker who caused a deadly Elk Grove Village crash during what an expert witness called a dehydration-fueled delusional episode.

Caleb Rallings, then 20 and living in Hillside, was driving a forest preserve pickup truck on his lunch break June 30, 2018, when he caused a six-vehicle pileup that killed Bloomingdale resident Giuseppe Gazzano.

Eyewitnesses — including passengers in the truck — testified Rallings was speeding, “playing chicken” with other vehicles and driving erratically in the moments leading up to the crash at Cosman and Arlington Heights roads. After the crash, he was heard chanting “I see you, God” and claimed to have seen “three blind mice.”

A neurologist testifying for the defense at trial said Rallings was not in control of his faculties when the crash occurred, due to delirium brought on by spending the previous few hours working in 90-plus-degree heat without hydrating.

“He was not aware of what he was doing because of the altered mental state brought on by the delirium,” Dr. James Merikangas testified. “It is being divorced from reality altogether.”

But a Cook County judge rejected that defense and found him guilty of reckless homicide. Rallings was sentenced to two years probation on top of the five years he’d spent on home confinement while awaiting trial.

In his appeal, Rallings argued that prosecutors failed to prove he was acting voluntarily when the crash occurred.

The First District Appellate Court sided this month with the guilty finding, noting that Rallings was able to pick a restaurant, drive to the restaurant and order lunch before the crash.

“Viewing this evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, a rational trier of fact could find that Rallings was acting voluntarily when he accelerated the vehicle at a high rate of speed and failed to brake,” Justice David R. Navarro wrote in the unanimous ruling. “While this court may have reached a different conclusion had we been the trier of fact, the resolution does not turn on what a different trier of fact may have done.”

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