COAL TOWNSHIP - Beer cans strewn around a student ejected from a car, a bottle of Jim Beam in a smashed-up car with three students still trapped inside it and a crying teenager arrested for DUI created the scene of a mock accident Wednesday afternoon at Leo A. Mulhall Stadium on the campus of Our Lady of Lourdes Regional School.
The scene played out in front of students as a reminder that alcohol and vehicles do not mix. The life lesson was organized by Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and the Shamokin Police Department.
The scene closely mimicked what could happen if a driver decides to drink before taking the wheel in real life. Members of the coroner's office pronounced student participant Grier Melick "dead," while emergency medical technicians from AREA Services and firefighters from Kulpmont Fire Department freed "trapped" students Tyler Wolfe, Michael Feudale and Felicia Bartello. Nearby, Ali Singh, who was crying and yelling for help, was "arrested" for drinking and driving by Coal Township and Shamokin police officers.
The life lesson may have lasted 15 minutes, but club president Lauryn Leach hopes the impact will last forever. She headed up organizing the event, which was a first for the school.
"I got the idea when I first applied for president of SADD," she said. "I want it to raise awareness for students not to make wrong decisions, especially around prom and graduation."
Afterward, Leach said the mock accident - which included fake blood, firefighters removing the car roof and a student being placed in a coroner's vehicle - was more dramatic than she expected.
"I'm glad it was more dramatic, so students get the full effect," she said.
According to Shamokin Patrolman Nate Rhoades, who directed the event, 2,000 teenagers die each year in DUI crashes, which is the lead cause of teenage deaths - facts he relayed to students watching the event.
"It (mock accident) shows what can happen in a DUI crash involving teenagers," he said before the simulation.
A reason for higher DUI crashes in the area, he said, is due in part because of the state of the local economy. He noted, however, that he has seen a decline in the amount of crashes involving teens and alcohol.
"I mean, everyone is going to drink, but they have to think before they drive," he said. "In the past five years, I have seen a change. More teenagers are getting out in the community."