Crime & Safety
Students Get Crash Course in Drunk Driving
Rogers High School held a mock crash Tuesday morning to raise awareness against drunk driving.
students had a grisly sight in the school parking lot Tuesday morning. Students lay lifeless, bruised and bleeding in two crumpled cars, beer bottles scattered the ground, and the Newport Fire Department used the jaws of life to extract the victims' bodies. Fortunately for the students and their peers, it was all an act.
The Rogers High School administration, Newport Community School, Students Against Destructive Decisions,, and held a graphic mock car accident to demonstrate the dangers of drunk driving and the consequences of getting behind the wheel while under the influence. The crash was scheduled to coincide with prom and graduation season.
The accident “victims” wore realistic make-up that looked like blood and deep cuts to simulate the crash scene. Gold's Junkyard donated the two crashed cars set up in front of the school.
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Grace Janes, Hanna Horan, Nathan Hurd and Haley Murphy, all SADD members, acted in the crash. Hurd’s mother, Lisa Hurd, was invited to play one of distressed parents.
“The scariest part was hearing my mom scream and cry like she did,” Hurd said afterwards.
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Hurd was the “dead victim” and was zipped up into a real body bag and put into a hearse.
Newport Police arrived shortly after with sirens blaring. They had been staged down the street to await the “call.” Next came the Newport Fire Department trucks, including a pumper truck, an ambulance and the special hazard unit.
Police put up caution tape as the hoses were unfurled and the firemen took out the jaws of life and other cutting tools to extract the victims. Firefighters cut the roof off of one car as one of the victims was covered by a sheet to shield her from anything falling on her. She and the passenger were then placed onto orange boards and transported into the waiting ambulance.
Meanwhile the driver, who said she "only had one beer," was put through a field sobriety test and placed under arrest.
Onlookers had tears in their eyes despite knowing the crash was staged.
Principal Patti DiCenso said she was was pleased with the community support for her students that she affectionally called “her kids.”
“We are so grateful to [the participants],” she said. “I just want the students to know they are loved and cared for by the community."
Jennifer Buckley, an advisor at the Newport Community School Program, spoke to the students after the event in the auditorium about her cousin, 20-year-old Brigid Kelly, who lost her life to a drunk driver. Kelly was killed in South County on December 1, 2001.
“We think this can’t happen in a small community, that it can’t happen here. You’re not invincible,” she said during an emotional speech. “In life there are no make up exams."
Newport Police Officer Kevin Parsonage also addressed the students, warning them against the dangers of drunk driving.
“Yes it happens here too. Most times we are the first on the seen so we see it all. We want you to be safe. Please don’t make poor choices,” Parsonage said.
