Mock Crash A Powerful Warning For S. Dearborn Students During Prom Week

Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 9:50 AM

By Mike Perleberg @mikedup84

South Dearborn High School students got a close look at a deadly drunk driving "crash" scene Monday.

A South Dearborn High School SADD student acting as a drunk driver in a mock crash held at the school parking lot on Monday, April 9. Photo by Mike Perleberg, Eagle Country 99.3.

(Aurora, Ind.) – It’s prom week at South Dearborn High School.

Filled with anticipation for the big formal dance, students in Aurora began the week with a warning that their actions could have a lasting impact on their lives and the lives of others.

Local first responders partnered with the South Dearborn High School Students Against Drunk Driving to put on a mock car crash scene in the school parking lot as the student body observed.

“We hope that the message gets out that you are only one choice away from a different life,” Dearborn-Ohio County Prosecutor Lynn Deddens said while observing the mock crash. “If you are going to make the decision to drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol, impaired, or distracted by texting or other things, how fast your life can change in basically the blink of an eye.”

The scene was a head-on collision between a car and a minivan. Fake blood was splattered inside and outside the vehicles. Real, local deputies, firefighters, EMTs and the Dearborn County Coroner pulled up to the scene in their vehicles and jumped into action the same way they would at a real crash scene.

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Mock drunk driving crash scene for South Dearborn High School students to start prom week. Make good choices!

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Deputy Craig Elliott helped to coordinate the demonstration. He's responded to numerous crashes in his career.

“There is a lot of adrenaline. You never know what you’re going to and every scene is different. It is extremely real when you get there and see the goriness and you see the damage that it causes to the vehicles and peoples’ lives. That’s what we’re trying to eliminate here today,” Elliott said

SADD students played the victims of the crash. One of the student “drivers” was given a field sobriety test by a deputy.

The University of Cincinnati Medical Center Air Care helicopter flew in and landed in the parking lot. It took off once one of the “victims” was boarded.

Deddens doesn’t believe minors should drink or use drugs, but she urges young people to never get behind the wheel if they find themselves in a situation where they are intoxicated.

“Get a call to their parents and have somebody can pick them up. There’s too much potential with all these young people just to throw it down the drain,” she said.