‘A HORRIFIC MORNING’

4 Teens Killed in Rollover Crash Linked to TikTok Challenge, Buffalo Cops Say

The so-called “Kia challenge” encourages viewers to steal Kia and Hyundai vehicles by hot-wiring them with a screwdriver and a USB cord.

Four teenagers were killed and two hospitalized early Monday after a high-speed car crash that New York authorities have linked to a TikTok challenge, Buffalo police said. The six youths crashed the Kia Sportage—reported stolen the previous night—into an expressway wall around 6:40 a.m., according to Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph A. Gramaglia. The five passengers were all ejected from the vehicle; the four killed were identified as Marcus Webster, 19, Swazine Swindle, 17, Kevin Payne, 16, and Ahjanae Harper, 14. The fifth passenger, a 14-year-old girl, was hospitalized in intensive care, but is expected to survive, according to Spectrum News 1. The driver, an unidentified 16-year-old boy, was treated at the hospital and released. He has been charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle and criminal possession of stolen property. At a Monday press conference, Gramaglia said the teens had been participating in the so-called “Kia challenge,” a TikTok craze that encourages viewers to hot-wire Kia and Hyundai cars with a screwdriver and a USB cord. “It’s a horrific morning,” Gramaglia added. “This is a terrible, terrible outcome for such young kids that had their entire lives in front of them.”