Real Tragedy Portrayed At 100th Mock DUI Reenactment In Rancho Santa Margarita

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — Friends Against Drinking and Driving, the City of Rancho Santa Margarita and the Orange County Fire Authority celebrated the 100th Mock DUI Crash at Santa Margarita Catholic High School over the last week of April.

FADD's founder, OCFA Captain Steve Concialdi, began his outreach in 1988 as a Mater Dei High School student hoping to tackle the dangers of drinking and driving was celebrated for his efforts with OCFA by local dignitaries and his peers.

Hundreds attended the 100th Mock DUI collision, a reenactment of a 1987 crash that took pace in Saddleback Valley, with students, parents and teachers taking part as "mock" victims, witnesses and responders in the event, including Concialdi's son, Andy, a student at SMCHS.

Though acting, each representative in the Mock DUI participated with respect and an almost sacred duty. Witnesses listened to speakers in silence, often with bowed heads and slumped shoulders.

The Mock DUI presentation, in conjunction with the Every 15 Minutes program, reminded all of real-life events that changed the lives of people in Saddleback Valley forever in 1987.

"The accident you saw today with the (mock) mom coming out to the (mock) dead bodies, this accident really happened," Concialdi reminded all present. "This is a reenactment of an actual crash after the driver only had a couple of drinks."

In that 1987 crash, John Christopher Quinton, a 16-year-old resident of Laguna Niguel, and friends drove his parents Mercedes Benz and was heading to a school dance when it collided with another vehicle. Quinton and two others died, and five others were seriously injured in one of the worst DUI incidents of Saddleback Valley’s history.

Newport Beach attorney Ronald B. Schwartz, who represented the victims, said the landmark jury verdict was a statement by the community. Not only the driver was responsible, but his teenage passengers were also liable under the laws of civil conspiracy according to Schwartz.

“The jury found the teenagers liable under the civil conspiracy laws back then,” Schwartz said. (The case) was about the liability and responsibility of all those in the vehicle, according to Schwartz.

Responsibility of peers is what the Mock DUI Collision experiment is all about, according to Concialdi. Through vivid reenactments, portrayals of real incidents and the personal stories FADD hopes to get through to teenage drivers before it's too late.

“Our message to teenagers, young adults – and adults as well, is to be responsible, wear their seat belts, don’t drink and drive, don’t ride with someone that has been drinking….and put down their phones,” Capt. Steve Concialdi continued. “When you are driving – do not text and drive. That text can wait.”

OCFA’s PIO Captain Larry Kurtz echoed the importance of FADD’s 100th Mock DUI Crash and honored Concialdi with a tribute about the long-standing impact FADD has had on the surrounding communities throughout OC over the years.

“An event like FADD’s Mock DUI Crash shares the consequences of drinking and driving,” Kurtz said Monday, April 24. “The object is to get students headed to Prom to think about the consequences if they drink and drive. It’s about making the right decision.”

“As firefighters, we see these accidents far too often,” Kurtz said. “If we go to one of these accidents, it’s too many.”

OCFA Captain Craig and wife Doreen Campbell spoke of the loss of their daughter to a DUI collision. Their college-aged daughter, home for the holidays at Christmas in 2008, stopped to aid a victim of a collision when she was killed by a rear-ending vehicle.

“When you drink, you do not make good decisions,” said Capt. Craig Campbell said, regaining strength in his voice after his recount of the night of his daughter's death. “There really is no excuse to drink and drive. If you are at a party, and you get yourself into that situation, you have got to come up with a better plan.”

“My final message is how do you survive this?” Capt. Craig Campbell said. “Your faith is how you survive this.”

Report with: Amy Spurgeon Hoffman. Photos: Courtesy of OCFA, OCFA Photographer Jakub Lichtenstein