Pranksters play drinking game in middle of Houston traffic

HOUSTON -- It looked like a game of beer pong in the middle of a busy Houston intersection. A viral video posted on social media is yet another example of the ridiculous stunts carried out on city streets.

A group of friends decided to play a prank at Airline Drive and West Road. The incident happened Thursday afternoon. Two men carried a table into the middle of the street. They then lined up red cups before tossing a ping pong ball back and forth. The videos last about a minute. You can hear frustrated drivers honk their horns.

Eyewitness News Reporter Steve Campion was the first to track down the group. Kevin Uresti is 22 years old, while Cristian Castaneda, Vincent Dominguez and Juan Johnson are 18 years old. At first, they seemed reluctant to talk about the video and seemed surprised by the online attention.

They told ABC13 they were just having fun. They also said they weren't drinking alcohol. They filled the cups up with Hawaiian punch.

"We were just doing our thing. Having fun because we're young. That's our thing. Having fun. It's summer too," said Johnson. "I'm not worried. I mean I'm not scared of nothing so if I go to jail, I go to jail. I did what I did. I had fun."

HPD officers said they take issue with these types of stunts. They describe them as dangerous and worry they'll inspire copycats by children.

They also said pranksters can face misdemeanor charges or citations for impeding traffic.

"The reason why they do it is for popularity. They want to be on TV. They want to get their video to get likes and clicks," said Officer John L. Williams. "Don't do these pranks. These pranks can hurt you, can harm you. There are other things you can do to be popular on social media."

Both the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff's Office said they received no calls about the incident Thursday. They are not investigating since there is no complainant in the case.