Vandy’s mock crash a reminder of drunken driving dangers

With prom season at hand, public safety agencies are pulling out all the stops to warn high school students about the dangers of drinking and driving.

Vandebilt Catholic High juniors and seniors watched classmates, school staff and safety workers act out a mock drunk-driving crash demonstration and trial last Wednesday.

The one-dead-and-four-injured crash scenario featured Acadian Ambulance paramedics and an Air-Med helicopter, Louisiana State Police, Houma Police, the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office and Bayou Cane firefighters responding to the scene.

The “true to life” scene also required officers to inform parents that their child had been killed in the crash.

“We try to make these demonstrations as real as possible,” said Trooper Gilbert Dardar, Troop C public information officer. “With experience, these mock crashes get better because we know what works and what doesn’t work.”

Jaora Johnson, who played a victim, experienced the impact firsthand.

“It was scary. When they put me in that ambulance, I was thinking, ‘Wow, it really happens like this,'” he said.

Afterward, students were taken to the school gymnasium to watch the trial of senior Edward Fakier, who played the intoxicated driver.

Terrebonne District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr. and Division A Circuit Judge George Larke played themselves.

“So many people take for granted the consequences of drinking and driving,” Waitz said. “We’re just here to make them aware there are life-changing consequences.”

“This is the first time we’ve done the trial for Terrebonne Parish students,” said Susan Szush, Acadian Ambulance paramedic and community relations supervisor who has organized the event for 15 years.

“I wanted to show them the final consequences of a drunk driver’s actions. The children were really responsive to it,” she added.

Fakier was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Even though the punishment was fake, his reaction was real.

“It was shocking. It’s hard to imagine yourself in that position,” he said. “It makes things more real for you. It visualizes what the result of that mistake would be. It makes it a little more clear when someone says, ‘Don’t drink and drive.'”

Terrebonne Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois said the scenario is intended to dispell the notion of invincibility that many young people share.

“This is what gets people killed: ‘It’s not going to happen to me,'” he said. “Well, it does. We know that because we see it every day.”

Every other year, all juniors and seniors in Terrebonne Parish schools are bused to one location, usually the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, to witness the mock crash.

This week, safety officials are showing video and PowerPoint presentations at each public high school on the consequences of drunk driving. The goal is the same: to end drinking and driving.

“I felt it was effective when you see students after the demonstration was over drying their eyes,” Dardar said. “It hit close to home to see their friends at school as the ones in a crash.”

“We want students to have a wonderful prom. Alcohol does not have to be a part of it,” Szush insisted. “You can have fun without it.”

Vandebilt Catholic High School students look on as senior Edward Fakier, who played an intoxicated driver during last week’s mock drunk driving exercise, views the crash scene. The annual event is held by local law enforcement and court officials, firefighters and paramedics to alert teens to the dangers of drunk driving. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF