Mock DUI crash held at Trinity
Trinity High School student Quentin McIlvaine, center, played a deceased victim during the mock crash at Trinity High School Wednesday.
Trinity High School student Adam Raggi, right, played the impaired driver and sits before District Judge Robert Redlinger during the mock crash at Trinity High School on Wednesday.
Students often laughed, but organizers of the mock crash Wednesday at Trinity High School said they were deadly serious about demonstrating the fatal consequences of drinking and driving this prom season.
“It looks goofy with the driver wearing fake beer goggles and stumbling and failing a field sobriety test, but it’s not funny. You won’t be laughing if someone dies from consequences leading from your decisions to get behind the wheel while impaired,” said Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Safety Officer Jay Ofsanik.
PennDOT and local first responders set up a scene of a head-on collision with two vehicles and five student occupants in which a driver of one of the vehicles died and the others were seriously injured. Emergency crews carried out their duties at a feverish pace, as if they were responding to a real crash, extricating survivors and calling in a medical helicopter to evacuate one of the seriously injured students. The impaired driver, played by junior Adam Raggi, 17, was cuffed, charged with driving under the influence and put in an orange jumpsuit as part of the arraignment portion of the elaborate drama.
Raggi was prepped for booking, but not before a casket was laid out and students walked past, paying their respects to the male victim who died.
“I know this whole thing has been comical at times because you know it isn’t real,” said Washington County Deputy Coroner Tim Warco Jr., “but this is to show the decisions you make will last forever. Dead is forever … we have to notify families that their child is deceased. That is the hardest part of our job. So please take this seriously. If this saves one life, it’s worth it.”
According to PennDOT data, 33 percent of fatal crashes in Pennsylvania are linked to DUI, and 56 percent of crash fatalities are people who didn’t wear a seat belt.
“Call someone. Don’t get in a car with an impaired driver,” Ofsanik said, “because wearing a seat belt in that situation is not enough. You’re saying, ‘If you kill yourself, I’m along for the last ride.’
“Don’t force your parents to come down to the coroner’s office and identify your body on a cold slab of steel.”
Raggi was finally brought before District Judge Robert Redlinger as he read a litany of charges including aggravated assault and homicide by vehicle. The sarcastic sass Raggi gave the judge, Redlinger noted, was right in line with how combative – and often still drunk – DUI suspects act in a courtroom.
“You have the right to remain silent. I advise you use it,” Redlinger said to Raggi as he entered the scene shouting, “I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“What are my Miranda rights?” Raggi asked, to which Redlinger replied, “You’ve already been advised of your rights. And you’re acting like a lot of these know-it-all-suspects who are charged with these kinds of DUI violations.”
The ham act continued, with Raggi addressing the judge as “officer,” and answering a question about whether he had a passport with, “I’m not a spy,” further adding authenticity to a convincing impairment routine.
Once bond of $250,000 was set, Raggi was led out of the stage courtroom.
For the homicide by vehicle charge alone, he could have spent three to six years in prison if the scenario were real. But the situation is too often real, according to Trinity administrators, who lamented visiting with families of student victims in previous districts they worked. Another reality, Ofsanik said, is that first responders are dwindling.
“You saw exactly what first responders deal with, and how they save lives. These accidents can be avoided, but they still happen. If you feel compelled to help your community, please volunteer. Talk with local firefighters and medics, because we need you. You may save the life of someone you know someday and it’ll change both your lives,” Ofsanik said.