"Kool-Aid Man Challenge" possibly to blame for fence-smashing vandalism on Staten Island captured on video
And it's not the first time something like this has happened in the borough.
The vandalism appears to be part of a stunt called the "Kool-Aid Man Challenge," a nod to the commercial featuring the mascot of the popular drink bursting through a wall.
None of it sits well with Noby Augustine.
Young people are seen on video running full force and smashing through a fence at his home on Rathbun Avenue in the Prince's Bay section during the overnight hours on Monday. While doing so, they took the fence down and sent garbage cans flying.
Augustine is the latest resident on Staten Island to have his property vandalized that way.
"Monday night, I didn't sleep. I got sick because of that," Augustine said. "I looked from the window, so I saw like two kids were facing the fence and getting ready. So before I say something, they already jumped through the fence and they smashed it."
The two teens were seen putting their cellphones on the ground before busting through his fence. Augustine reported the incident to police, but he said it wasn't a unique situation, adding he returned home from a trip two years ago to also find his fence busted.
"It's not funny at all, but, yeah, [they] should not be doing this," he said.
Back in April, Ben Helwa's fence at his home in the Eltingville neighborhood was vandalized in similar fashion. Surveillance video shows three youngsters running through it, with one kid seen with his phone out to film.
"I was just in shock because, once again, these kids ran through the fence. They fled the scene. Are the kids even okay?" Helwa said.
Augustine said his fence is once again fixed, and he's getting the word out to warn others.
"Someone has to stop this," he said. "We should not be keeping quiet, like we should stop doing it. All the homeowners, like, they should be speaking up."
Police say these so-called challenges may seem harmless, but they are crimes. And for the pranksters, what might feel like a laugh online could quickly land them with a criminal record offline.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
16 minutes ago
- CBS News
Fatal shooting at Sacramento's William Land Park sparks calls for tighter security measures
Neighbors are calling for a park policy change following a fatal shooting at Sacramento's William Land Park. The shooting happened at night when the park is supposed to be closed, but neighbors say that's not always enforced. The male victim was found shot and killed inside a car on 13th Avenue inside William Land Park early Thursday morning. "It's shocking. It's not what we want to experience in any of our parks in Sacramento," said Kristina Rogers, president of the Land Park Community Association. Rogers said that the park has many family-friendly attractions, including the Sacramento Zoo and Fairytale Town. "It happened in a very quiet neighborhood part of the park, right next to a children's playground," she said. "That's really hard for us to accept." Rogers' neighborhood organization has been asking the city to change its park security policy for years. The park closes to the public at sunset, but she said the metal gates that prevent cars from driving through are not closed and the public bathroom near the shooting scene is not locked after hours. "When you have open gates and open bathrooms at night when the park is closed, that seems to be the time when a lot of the criminal behavior starts to show up," she said. Jeff Strenk lives across from the crime scene and wants the nighttime park closure to be enforced. "If there were to be locked at night, I think that would go a long way towards improving security," Strenk said. Now, following this violent crime, it appears there is a change coming. A representative in City Councilmember Rick Jenning's office said that the park bathrooms will now be locked at sundown. We broke the news to Strenk. "That's awesome," he said. "I think that's a great idea, a great decision and probably long overdue." Sacramento police say no arrests have been made in connection with this shooting, and the name of the victim has not yet been released.
CBS News
16 minutes ago
- CBS News
Driver arrested after leading Sacramento deputies on chase in stolen Amazon truck
The driver of a stolen Amazon truck was arrested after taking deputies on a chase spanning two counties, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said Friday. Deputies located the stolen semi-truck near the intersection of Watt and Edison avenues in the northern Arden-Arcade area of Sacramento, the sheriff's office said. The driver fled from an attempted traffic stop and entered eastbound Interstate 80. The chase ended when law enforcement officials were able to get the driver to stop near Eureka Road in Roseville. The driver, who has not yet been identified, was then taken into custody. Photos taken and released by the sheriff's office show that the trailer of the semi-truck was loaded.
Associated Press
40 minutes ago
- Associated Press
NCAA fines Michigan millions, adds game suspension for Moore over sign-stealing scandal
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The NCAA fined Michigan tens of millions of dollars Friday and suspended coach Sherrone Moore for a third game as punishment for a sprawling sign-stealing scandal that has loomed over college football's winningest program for nearly two years, including its national championship season in 2023. The NCAA said it had 'overwhelming' and concerning evidence of a cover-up by Wolverines staff and noted there were 'sufficient grounds for a multiyear postseason ban' against a program now considered a repeat violator. But the governing body stopped short of program-crippling punishments, saying a two-year postseason ban 'would unfairly penalize student-athletes for the actions of coaches and staff' who are no longer there. 'The panel concluded that an elaborate, impermissible scouting scheme was embedded in the Michigan football program over the course of three football seasons, 2021, 2022 and 2023, and this occurred under former head coach Jim Harbaugh's oversight,' said Norman Bay, chief hearing officer for the Division I Committee on Infractions. 'What makes this case even more serious, in addition to the clear intent to impermissibly gain a substantial competitive advantage, is the elaborate effort to obstruct the investigation.' Moore, who is facing a school-imposed two-game suspension this season, will also sit out the first game of the 2026-27 season for a total of three games. Moore received a two-year show-cause order, but will be allowed to fulfill coaching commitments under the NCAA order. The biggest blow came from the financial penalties, which are expected to exceed $20 million. They include a $50,000 fine, a 10% fine on the football program's budget, a 10% fine on Michigan's 2025-26 scholarships and a fine equivalent to the anticipated loss of postseason revenue for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. The program also faces a 25% reduction in official recruiting visits during the upcoming season and a 14-week prohibition on recruiting communications during its four-year probation period. Harbaugh, a former Michigan quarterback and now the coach of the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers, faces a 10-year show-cause order following the conclusion of his previous four-year order effective Aug. 7, 2028. Connor Stalions, a former low-level staffer who ran the scouting and sign-stealing operation, was issued an eight-year show-cause order, which effectively bans a person from college athletics for the period handed down. Michigan said it would appeal the decision. '(R)espectfully, in a number of instances the decision makes fundamental errors in interpreting NCAA bylaws; and it includes a number of conclusions that are directly contrary to the evidence – or lack of evidence – in the record,' the school said. Athletic director Warde Manuel added that 'a postseason ban should never have been a consideration in this case. I fully support the university's decision to pursue an appeal.' The scheme Harbaugh has always maintained he knew nothing about the scheme. NCAA investigators were clearly skeptical. 'Aspects of the record suggest that there may have been broader acceptance of the scheme throughout the program,' the report says. 'At a minimum, there was a willful intent not to learn more about Stalions' methods. However, the true scope and scale of the scheme -- including the competitive advantage it conferred -- will never be known due to individuals' intentional destruction and withholding of materials and information.' The NCAA does not have rules against stealing signs, but does prohibit schools from sending scouts to the games of in-season opponents and using electronic equipment to record another team's signals. The scheme run by Stalions, the NCAA said, was elaborate and detailed – in fact, the NCAA said, Stalions described it as 'counterintelligence' and his network of helpers was referred to as the 'KGB,' a nod to the Soviet-era spy service. During the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons, 'Stalions directed and arranged for individuals to conduct off-campus, in-person scouting of Michigan's future regular season opponents,' the NCAA report said, noting that he bought their tickets and saying he spent some $35,000 in 2022 alone. 'While in attendance, they filmed the signal callers on the future opponents' sidelines and then provided that film to Stalions. Using the footage they collected, Stalions then deciphered their signals. Additionally, on one occasion, Stalions personally attended a future opponent's contest. In total, 56 instances of off-campus, in-person scouting of 13 future regular season opponents occurred across 52 contests.' When asked about Stalions' devices, accounts and documents, the NCAA said, 'multiple members of the KGB stated that Stalions gave them access to his hard drives and Google drive to review videos and assist in identifying signals.' Stalions, a Naval Academy graduate, was a volunteer for Michigan's football program for years, including when he was stationed in San Diego and slept in his car while renting his house, until Harbaugh hired him 2022. The retired captain in the Marine Corps was an analytics assistant for the Wolverines when he was suspended in October 2023, a day after the school disclosed it was under NCAA investigation. Stalions later resigned. 'If I'm a bad guy, then everyone in football is a bad guy,' Stalions said in a recent Netflix documentary. Stalions, who did not participate in the NCAA investigation, recently said he knew almost every signal opponents used in seven games over two seasons. The NCAA said the efforts to cover up the scheme included Stalions and other Michigan employees. 'Stalions himself described smashing his phone into 1,000 pieces and throwing it into a pond, providing false and misleading information during interviews, telling a potential witness to lie when interviewed, and some staff members, most notably Harbaugh not participating in interviews at all,' Bay said. 'Moore deleted his entire 52 message text thread with Stalions from his personal phone. Harbaugh failed to cooperate by refusing to provide necessary records or participating in interviews with NCAA enforcement staff.' The coaches In a notice sent to the school last year, the NCAA alleged that Moore violated rules as an assistant under Harbaugh. The text messages with Stalions were recovered and provided to the NCAA. Harbaugh, who left the Wolverines after they won the 2023 national championship, served a three-game suspension in exchange for the Big Ten dropping its investigation into the allegations after the two ended up in court. The NCAA also noted unrelated recruiting violations were part of the mix, violations that got Harbaugh that initial show-cause order. The NCAA said those involved lower-level staffers communicating with four recruits. 'The scouting scheme and recruiting violations in the football program demonstrate that Harbaugh violated the principles of head coach responsibility,' the NCAA said. 'Harbaugh did not embrace or enforce a culture of compliance during his tenure, and his program had a contentious relationship with Michigan's compliance office, leading coaches and staff to disregard NCAA rules.' The Wolverines open the season on Aug. 30 at home against New Mexico State and then play at Oklahoma, where Moore was an offensive lineman, on Sept. 6. 'I am glad that this part of the process has been completed,' Moore said in a statement issued by Michigan. 'I greatly respect the rules governing collegiate athletics and it is my intent to have our program comply with those rules at all times.' ___ Carey reported from Tampa, Florida. ___ AP college football: and
