Students sat silently Tuesday morning as Hollister Firefighters
tore the roof off a car and dragged two of their bloodied peers
from the mangled wreckage of a drunk-driving accident.
Hollister – Students sat silently Tuesday morning as Hollister Firefighters tore the roof off a car and dragged two of their bloodied peers from the mangled wreckage of a drunk-driving accident.
They saw another classmate, responsible for the carnage, wobble through a sobriety test before being led off in handcuffs to face felony charges for the tragic wreck. Some choked back tears as rescue workers zipped a body bag containing a student killed in the sad affair closed, carrying the remains away for the inevitable autopsy by the county coroner. They witnessed first-hand the sobering effects of drinking and driving.
The blood, death and arrest were all fake, but the message was very real: Don’t drink and drive.
“We’re tired of our kids dying,” San Benito High School Assistant Principal Duane Morgan said, adding the school averages one drunk-driving related fatality a year frighteningly similar to the simulated event that stunned students during the school’s first-ever presentation of Every 15 Minutes – a program designed to curb teen drinking and driving.
It’s why Morgan believed the popular Every 15 Minutes program held at schools throughout the nation would have a powerful effect on local teens. Based on the faces in the crowd Tuesday, he was right.
Every 15 Minutes is a graphic program aimed at showing young people the deadly result of mixing booze and cars so they won’t drink and drive. The name is based upon the disturbing trend that someone in the U.S. dies in an alcohol-related accident every 15 minutes on average.
“You don’t see (your friends) put into body bags. You don’t see your peers with blood all over,” said senior Corryn Pacheco after watching Tuesday’s event. “To see that really hits the heart.”
The scene portraying a head-on collision and its twisted, bloody aftermath played out on the high school’s football field as about 1,300 seniors and juniors watched quietly from the stands. As rescue workers responded to the mock accident, simulated calls to 911 played over the loudspeaker adding to the realism of the gruesome scene.
“We’re hoping to reach the kids. By using alcohol and driving you can kill yourself and others,” said Hollister Police Captain Richard Vasquez. “We hope kids will give it serious thought before they drink and drive.”
In classes throughout the high school Tuesday morning, a man dressed as the Grim Reaper, wearing a black robe and hood that covered his face, stalked the halls of the high school, pulling students chosen to “die” from their classrooms – every 15 minutes another victim was claimed.
After the Grim Reaper chose its victim, the student paints their face white and returns to class as a silent reminder of the high cost of drinking and driving.
“I think it’s a good experience. You try to make an impact on other people’s lives,” said junior Yadira Orozco, who was one of the victims. “It’s kind of scary, but it’s a good cause.”
Unfortunately in San Benito County, young people getting behind the wheel after drinking is far too common.
In January, 20-year-old San Benito High School graduate Adam Baxter died in an alcohol related accident when his friend, Matthew Engwall, drove off Highway 156 between Hollister and San Juan Bautista. Engwall now faces felony charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence. And in 2003 Paul Galvan and Matthew Lopez died in a drunk-driving accident just months after graduating from San Benito High. Though the two accidents are still burned in the memories of the many students who knew the men, many more local teenagers have lost their lives to drinking and driving over the decades.
After the ambulances and police cruisers drove off the field, Principal Deborah Padilla addressed the students.
“The driver of one of these vehicles made a choice, a very bad choice that took the life of his brother,” she said before dismissing the students from the bleachers.
The program continues today as students attend a mock funeral service where students, teachers and parents will discuss their own experiences and losses resulting from drunk driving.
The program’s $12,000 cost was paid through grants from the California Highway Patrol and the California Office of Traffic Safety and by money donated from community members and local businesses, Morgan said. But for the students who witnessed the disturbing effects drunk driving can have, the expense was well worth the lesson it taught.
“I think it had a definite impact on students,” said senior Spenser Genesy. “It was very intense.”
Luke Roney covers education and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected]
