Cancer survivor hospitalized after being targeted by TikTok 'bucket' prank in ... trends now
A new mom was hospitalized after finding herself the victim of a social media stunt gone horribly wrong - where people put buckets on the heads of complete strangers just to film their reactions.
The increasingly popular fad - seen widely on platforms like TikTok - saw a simple shopping trip to Target for baby supplies Sunday turn into a life-or-death scare, and sent unwilling participant Lana Clay-Monaghan to a Southern California hospital.
Recounting the ordeal in a video interview Monday, Clay-Monaghan - a 30-year cancer survivor who recently developed epilepsy - described how she was caught off guard by the four teen boys responsible for the prank, who are still at large.
She says the assault deprived her of air and ultimately caused her to faint and be rushed to UC Irvine Medical Center. She further claims the incident left her with physical and psychological damage, as well as lingering neurological side effects.
Police in the small SoCal city are now treating the altercation as an assault - and are reviewing surveillance video from the Tustin Target to identify the four young men, who fled the store as their prank unraveled before them.
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Recounting the ordeal in a video interview Monday, Lana Clay-Monaghan - a 30-year cancer survivor who recently developed epilepsy - described how she was caught off guard by the four teen boys responsible for the prank, who are still at large
Cops investigating the incident believe the four at-large perpetrators - all boys in their teens - had been taking part in a fad where people put buckets on the heads of strangers to film their reactions. The pranks are often pulled on unsuspecting shoppers while their backs are turned
Cops add they believe the stunt was the result of the so-called 'stranger bucket challenge,' an internet craze that teenagers across the country have largely embraced - albeit to mixed reception, often from those being pranked.
'I was looking at some baby soap,' Clay-Monaghan told local outlet KTLA. 'I leaned down and my whole world changed.'
She proceeded to recall how she lost her breath and sense of equilibrium, before realizing that a generic mop bucket being sold in the store had been placed on her head.
'Everything went quiet, dark, and there was really no air,' she said, adding in another interview to KCBS: 'I started freaking out. I was screaming.'
After she pulled the bucket off her head, she recalled how she the four young boys thought to be teenagers laughing and filming her - before suddenly passing out.
'I flipped off what was put over me, around my neck, and I turned around and looked over my left shoulder,' she told KTLA, while revealing that she was pressing charges over the incident.
'To my dismay, it was a group of individuals who were filming me, seemingly for some sort of prank or maybe for something like TikTok.'
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