Prom season warning: Mock crash at MHS shows dangers of drunk driving
Just before tonight’s prom, Monroe High School students got a powerful lesson in responsible driving.
On Thursday morning, from the football stadium bleachers, the entire study body witnessed a mock crash and rescue scene staged on the track around the field.
The event was hosted by the MHS Positive Peer Influence group and adviser Hollie Mazur. While other area high schools have staged mock crashes in recent years, Mazur said MHS hasn't had one in her eight-year tenure.
“The goal of this event is to showcase how serious the issue of drinking and driving is and the tragic consequences it can lead to,” MHS Principal Steve Pollzzie said.
“(We want) students to think twice before driving under the influence,” Mazur said. “We chose to host this event during our Student Prevention Leadership Team’s anti-drinking and driving campaign. This campaign takes place the week before prom.”
In the hour-long scenario, narrated by Aiden Newton, Kellen Roberts played a drunken driver coming home from prom with his girlfriend, played by Alex Cedeno.
Jim’s Towing provided a wrecked Grand Marquis and a Volkswagen Beetle for the event.
In the scenario, Roberts crashed head-on into another car, ejecting and killing Owen Yount. Tess Eshenroder was trapped inside a vehicle. Brynn Reece and Anna Tedora were injured. All of the students were still in prom attire and bore fake blood and bruises.
Witness Logan Loveland made a frantic live call to 911.
“People are dying. There’s blood all over. Please send help. We don’t have much longer,” Logan told Rebecca at Monroe County Central Dispatch.
Soon, emergency vehicles with lights and sirens arrived at MHS from the Monroe Post of the Michigan State Police, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Monroe Community Ambulance and the Monroe Township Fire Department. ProMedica Air was scheduled to take part but could not attend.
Wearing full gear, the first responders used Jaws of Life to free Eshenroder, put braces on injured students and simulate CPR. Roberts was arrested for manslaughter driving under the influence.
“It’s a minimum of 15 years in prison. His baseball career and his future are ruined,” Newton told the audience. “The rest are forever scarred for life because of this drunk-driving accident.”
Yount was loaded onto a stretcher and put inside a Merkle Funeral Service hearse. Before leaving the scene, funeral director Brian Merkle consoled Yount's grieving family.
As students filed back into MHS, they passed a memorial to their classmate. Photos of Yount and his baseball career flanked a casket that was surrounded by tearful student mourners.
Ally Pitcher read the poem “Went to a Party, Mom” by an anonymous author that the PPI group found online.
“Now I'm lying on the pavement and I hear the policeman say, the kid that caused this wreck was drunk, Mom, his voice seems far away. My own blood's all around me, as I try hard not to cry. I can hear the paramedic say, ‘This boy is going to die,’” Pitcher read from the poem. “I'm sure the guy had no idea, while he was flying high, because he chose to drink and drive, now I would have to die.”
Mazur called the mock crash a “huge success.”
“Students have been able to share their reactions and their personal connections to what they saw,” she said. “I teach seniors, and I have heard nothing but good things from them. They thought it was really powerful that we were able to do this, and our students were such good audience members that it made the event that much more impactful.”
In a letter to families, Pollzzie encouraged parents to talk to their teens about the dangers of drunken driving.
"Have an open and honest conversation with your child about responsible decision-making and the dangers of alcohol and driving. We believe prevention is the key to avoiding such accidents in the future," he said. "We would like to thank our local community agencies for making this event possible."
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Mock crash at Monroe High School shows dangers of drunken driving
