A recent mother of twins was shopping for baby supplies at a Target in Tustin March 26 when she became the victim of a social media prank that led to her hospitalization.
“I was looking at soap and I leaned down. The next thing I know my vision was obstructed like I had something over my head,” Tustin resident Lana Clay-Monaghan told The Epoch Times.
According to Clay-Monaghan, a group of teenagers placed a bucket over her head and began using their phones to record her reaction.
She said she screamed for help and after she removed the bucket, she saw a group of teenagers filming and laughing at her.
Videos online on platforms such as Tik Tok, Facebook, and Instagram have been surfacing recently with similar pranks, where shoppers—usually alone—are targeted at retail stores and have a bucket or basket placed over their head, and then their reaction is filmed and posted online.
Clay-Monaghan said her first instinct after removing the bucket was to reprimand the pranksters, as her motherly instincts kicked in, she said.
But instead, she fainted.
Other store shoppers came to her aid as the boys involved in the prank fled the store, she said.
Clay-Monaghan, who has epilepsy, was transported to a local emergency room where she was treated and told she had not experienced an epileptic seizure but had suffered issues with her heart “from the sheer shock of what happened,” she said.
Clay-Monoghan said she is now working with authorities and Target to identify her attackers.
“I feel that it is important for the public to be aware of the potential dangers of social media and the harmful consequences of thoughtless actions. No one should have to experience what I went through,” she posted to Facebook Monday.
According to a March 27 press release by Tustin police, four male teenagers were captured on store surveillance cameras with a bucket around the time of the incident, but fled.
Clay-Monaghan said she was mostly disappointed that none of the pranksters stopped and offered her help after realizing their prank hadn’t gone as planned.
“That would have shown a lot more morality and humanity for me, if someone out of the group of children stood up and said wait a second ... this was a joke, and now it’s not a joke, let’s get help,” she said.
The Tustin Police Department is asking anyone with more information to contact Detective Schaller at 714-573-3245.
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