She was lying dead still on the grass. The wind, especially gusty on the afternoon of Friday, April 20, teased hair loose from her ponytail and sunlight streamed through the tree above her, shining a natural spotlight on her blood spattered white t-shirt and denim shorts.
The silence was shattered by wailing police sirens and a blonde young girl’s piercing scream as she stumbled from a wrecked red car and dropped to her knees beside her motionless friend.
It seemed like a scene from a bad horror movie or action flick but it was actually a recreation of a very real scenario that drunk driving can create. Organized by
the Albany Police Department, Albany County Sheriff’s Office, Albany County Paramedics, Albany County Coroner and the Albany Fire Department, it was staged at The Albany Academies as part of the Albany County STOP-DWI Program to coincide with upcoming prom and graduation festivities.
“It gives them a visual effect, brings their classmates as potential victims and they see the consequences a little better,” said Lt. Kerry B. Thompson, STOP-DWI program administrator. “(They) see everything develop in its entirety.”
The elaborate recreation played out in front of groups of high school students craning to see behind bright yellow crime scene tape. To make it as realistic as possible, nothing was spared.
There were two cars with their fronts smashed in and student occupants smeared in blood and moaning in “pain.” Two Albany police cars screeched to a stop, followed by ambulances, a fire truck and sheriff’s deputies. Paramedics worked the scene as a driver, presumably “intoxicated,” performed field sobriety tests and was eventually cuffed and ushered into the back of a police car. A Med-Flight helicopter landed in a field across the way.
At the end, the girl in denim shorts who lay still on the ground was covered in a white sheet, zipped into a maroon body bag and loaded into the trunk of the county coroner’s black SUV.
“We try to bring something creative, diverse, eclectic each year to keep the students’ interest and send a message in a different way,” said Patti DeVost, who facilitated the demonstration. “This mock is the first.”
Thompson said the STOP-DWI program stages the demonstrations upon request and while this is the only one so far this year, there can be as many as six.
“Sometimes districts do them on their own with their own resources but we assist any school that would like to do them,” said Thompson.
DeVost said she was looking for something out of the ordinary to really drive the message home. Last year, a panel of speakers shared stories with students and the year before the school screened a film.
“I think you never know how completely successful it is. We base it on student feedback,” said DeVost, a counselor and director for the center of teaching and learning.
Letting students ask questions is an important part of any anti-DWI presentation, said DeVost, so on Friday students were also attending an assembly.
“Allow the time to ask questions, talk to actual victims, go over statistics,” said DeVost.
DeVost said she knows in the end, the school doesn’t have control over what decisions students may or may not make, but it’s still important to do what it can to prevent predicaments like the mock crash from occurring.
“When talking to youth and spending time with them you learn about all the pressures they’re faced with, choices they have to makes, stresses they’re under and not just related to academics … we need to prepare them not only on how to study and do well but face life challenges,” said DeVost. “We are proactive in our approach every year to give them positive ways to handle difficult situations.”
The Albany Academies also target underage drinking by breathalizing students before dances.
“We minimize risk and send the message that safety is a priority and it has seemed to work very well,” said DeVost. “Students are very responsive and we have not had any issues. They’re respecting the use of breath tests at the dances.”
Closer to the end of the year, students will have yet another anti-drinking activity when they don fatal vision goggles and drive golf carts.
“(It shows) how it would feel to be intoxicated and how it takes you off your equilibrium and what it would be like if they were asked to do certain (sobriety) tests,” said DeVost. “They haven’t experienced that first-hand.”
Taking an open approach to drunk and distracted driving goes hand-in-hand with The Albany Academies’ mission.
“They spend most of their day with us and ultimately, what affects them in the outside will affect them in school and their academics and our institution looks at the whole child,” said DeVost. “It’s part of growing up and we want to best prepare them for that.”
On Friday afternoon, it seemed like DeVost had accomplished her goal in at least a small way, as a boy turned to his friend and said, “Be above the influence.”
