By Christine Dempsey
Journal Inquirer
SOUTHINGTON, Conn. — Two students at Southington High School have been arrested after they set a laptop on fire in class last week as part of the so-called TikTok Chromebook challenge, police said.
A staff member threw the smoking laptop out the second-floor window of Southington High School on May 7, Assistant Fire Chief Scott Lee said. No one was injured.
The juveniles, who are sophomores, were each charged with reckless burning, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and second-degree breach of peace, Southington police Lt. Matthew Hammell said in a news release Wednesday afternoon. They are scheduled to appear in juvenile court Thursday, he said.
Hammell said the investigation showed that the students “stuck objects into the laptop, which caused the laptop to catch fire.” Besides the laptop, no other school property was damaged, he said.
The incident is one of several across the state and nation that officials suspect was prompted by the TikTok challenge.
The next day, in Plainville, a student was taken to the hospital after inhaling smoke from a burning laptop after a middle school student stuck scissors into the device, police in that town said.
Laptops also were intentionally shorted out at schools in Cromwell, Derby and Newington, officials said. Newington’s fire started when a student stuck a staple into the USB cord, Fire Marshal DJ Zordan said Wednesday.
No other town has yet reported making arrests in their incidents.
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