Bringing the consequences of a DUI traffic accident home to Skiatook students

Skiatook High School students got an up-close look Friday at what can happen when teenagers drink and drive. They saw a mock DUI crash set up in the school parking lot. <br/><br/>As News on 6 crime reporter

Friday, March 4th 2005, 10:20 am

By: News On 6

Skiatook High School students got an up-close look Friday at what can happen when teenagers drink and drive. They saw a mock DUI crash set up in the school parking lot.

As News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright explains, the blood was fake, but, the lesson, all too real.

Students had no idea what to expect when they were told to leave class and report to the parking lot. A few chuckles quickly disappeared as the drama played out before them. Two cars crash head-on, one classmate dead, another, trapped inside, while a third girl walks around dazed and the young man who caused it all, staggers to stay on his feet. While paramedics treated the walking wounded, firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to cut open one of the cars to rescue a young girl.

At the same time, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper questioned the suspect and eventually, cuffed him for jail. Students didn't just see it, they felt it. Skiatook junior Nykole Rasberry: "I thought it was very realistic and I hope it opens a lot of people's eyes and they think more when drinking, so they won't get in a car and drive." Lori Fullbright: "Scary?" Nykole: "Really scary, seeing a classmate dead, scary."

This mock crash wrapped up a week of activities for Skiatook High School students, all teaching the consequences of drinking and driving. Skiatook senior Ashley McClure: â€œrealistic point of it, where everyone is seeing their best friend dying, heart hurts."

A LifeFlight helicopter even landed to transport the girl who'd been cut out of the car, all to make the lesson stick.

Then, back in the auditorium, students saw pictures of the girl who'd died in the mock crash and a casket on the stage. And, they heard from people who know what it's like to lose someone to drunk driving, for real. Lori Fullbright told them about her brother Jimmy. All in hopes none of these students will face the realities of a crash like this one, during the upcoming spring break or junior-senior prom.

The teachers, firefighters, officers, paramedics, troopers and agents from Farm Bureau say all the work this week will be well worth is, if it prevents them from losing even one child to a real-life drunk driving crash.