Students See Drunken Driving Tragedy Up Close

Every 15 minutes someone dies from an alcohol related incident.

That’s the message the Hopatcong Police department tried hammering home to the high school’s junior and senior classes last week, using a program with a mock car crash with students “dying,” according to Lt. Thomas Kmetz.

“The hope is to shock the students into reality of what can happen if they drink and drive,” Kmetz said.

Students were given makeup and dressing to look like victims of an accident scene, and a drunk driver was tested for driving while intoxicated and arrested in front of the student body audience.

The mother of one of the “deceased” students was taken to the scene and cried over her “dead” son’s body, Kmetz said.

The Hopatcong Fire Department and First Aid Squad were also on hand to use the jaws of life on one vehicle and assist the injured. A hearse from Leber Lakeside funeral home arrived to remove the deceased as well.

Prior to the mock crash, a video was made of the students engaging in drinking at a house party, showing the driver leaving, the notification of a parent being told her son was killed, a trip in the ambulance to Morristown Medical Center, doctors working on patients, a trial, and a mother visiting her son’s grave.

The event was spearheaded by Susan Madar and assisted by Community Policing Officer Robert Haffner, Kmetz said.