LAWRENCE: A visual warning through pre-prom crash simulation

The victims weren’t really hurt — and the accident wasn’t real. It was part of the annual drunken driving simulation arranged for the benefit of Lawrence High School seniors Friday before

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   The silver sedan slammed into the driver’s side of the bronze car, crushing the door on the driver’s side and ejecting the front-seat passenger.
   It was eerily quiet — until the wail of sirens filled the air. Fire trucks, police cars and an ambulance raced to the scene to help the victims.
   But that help wasn’t necessary, because the victims weren’t really hurt — and the accident wasn’t real. It was part of the annual drunken driving simulation arranged for the benefit of Lawrence High School seniors Friday before the prom.
   As the seniors watched from their seats on the bleachers behind Lawrence High School, police Detective Scott Calioaro walked them through the accident. He explained that the first goal of the emergency responders was to tend to the girl who was thrown through the windshield.
   ”There is a lot going on. Is the victim deceased? It doesn’t look too good,” Detective Calioaro narrated, as one of the emergency medical technicians covered the girl’s bloodied body with a white sheet as she lay on the hood of the car.
   That meant the victim was dead.
   Meanwhile, firefighters grabbed their tools and cut off the doors to the cars so the emergency medical technicians could reach the other victims. One by one, they were removed from the cars and loaded onto backboards. The victims were moved away from the scene so the emergency medical technicians could assess their condition.
   Police Detective James Smith peered into the silver car and found a bottle containing a liquid. It might be vodka or it might be something else — but what police do know is that one person is dead and the accident scene turns into a crime scene, Detective Calioaro said.
   Police Officer David DallePazze takes the bottle and puts it inside an evidence bag, which will be sent to the New Jersey State Police lab to be analyzed — “just like you see on ‘CSI,’” Detective Calioaro said. Police also collect all of the victims’ cell phones. With a data warrant, the cell phones can be checked to see if either driver was texting, which is a “huge issue” right now, he said.
   As Officer DallePazze is collecting evidence, Detective Smith is administering field sobriety tests to the driver who is stumbling around. He tries to stand on one leg, which drivers who are sober can easily do, but he is wobbly. He also tries to walk heel-to-toe, but falls down.
   Detective Smith takes him to the Lawrence Township Police Department for more testing and arrests him when the Breathalyzer shows his blood alcohol content was .16, or twice the legal limit of .08. He will be charged with driving under the influence and arraigned in Lawrence Township Municipal Court.
   ”I can tell you this — the judge doesn’t care if you are 15, 16 or 17. Their job is to send you to jail if you are at fault because of driving under the influence or texting (while driving). You could be in jail for 20 years. You will be 38 years old when you get out. Who wants to hire you? Nobody,” Detective Calioaro said.
   As the “accident” scene was being cleaned up, the seniors filed into the auditorium to listen to Marian Moore, the trauma program manager at Capital Health Regional Medical Center System. She has been a nurse for 30 years.
   Ms. Moore told the students in graphic detail what happens in an automobile accident. The car stops suddenly, but the internal organs — including the brain — continue to move forward inside the body until they hit the skull and the rib cage. Then they move backwards, causing more damage.
   She also showed them some equally graphic photographs of accident victims — a young man with blackened eyes and tubes in his nose and mouth as well as a girl whose foot was turned 90 degrees because her leg was fractured.
   Ms. Moore also showed the students some graphic photographs of a girl who was killed when her car went underneath a tractor trailer truck because she was not paying attention to her driving. She was texting a message on her cell phone.
   Back to the accident at hand, Municipal Court Judge Brian Duff — who is an attorney — arraigned the offending driver on several charges. He was charged with death by auto, five counts of aggravated assault by auto, driving under the influence and possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana in a motor vehicle. Bail was set at more than $500,000.
   After the driver was led away, the curtain on the stage was opened to show a coffin. At one end of it was the victim’s “mother.” The “parents” of the surviving teenagers flanked the coffin, as the “victim” read the poem “Death of An Innocent.”
   Before releasing the seniors, Principal Jonathan Dauber cautioned them to be careful. He told them a Middletown, N.Y., teenager was killed last week as he was driving to his high school’s junior prom.
   ”I trust you guys,” Mr. Dauber said. “I am not going to have to leave an empty gown on an empty seat (at graduation). Keep it in the back of your minds. Be sharp and be smart.”