About 200 Le Roy High School students witnessed one of their classmates being carried away in a body bag by four volunteer firefighters on Friday.
The student wasn't dead, just an actor in a multi-agency demonstration for the youths about what happens when people drink and drive and get into serious auto accidents.
The event was put together by Tim Hogel and Christina Marinaccio of the Le Roy Fire Department. Also participating were the Stafford Fire Department, Le Roy Ambulance (who's members also assisted to planning and setting up the drill), Mercy Flight, Le Roy Police, the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, Genesee County Emergency Services and Coroner Bob Yungfleisch.
"We wanted them to know, to have a firsthand experience," said Le Roy Chief Mike Sheflin. "We can read statistics to them all day long, but we wanted them to really see what happens, to have a friend being put under an orange blanket and in a body bag."
The scene set up in the parking lot of the high school involved two cars, four student actors and two mannequins. The demonstration, lasting more than an hour, showed students what happens when first responders arrive on scene -- from providing immediate medical treatment to extricating people trapped in cars.
The re-enactment portrayed a double fatality accident with one person being trapped in a car and the other being thrown from a vehicle. Yungfleisch pronounced both victims dead at the scene and went through all the steps he normally would in documenting the deaths.
Two other students were "transported" by ground ambulance and a third student was transported in a Mercy Flight helicopter. (He described the ride as "bumpy.")
At least three students --Lindsay Snyder, Ashley Russo, Shelby Joshlin -- said the demonstration had a real impact on them.
"It’s traumatizing for everyone," Lindsay said. "Even if you don’t know them, it still impacts you. Even in just acting, it kind of makes you stop and think, what if that happened to me?"
Ashley said the demonstration really showed her that driving while intoxicated is really bad and Shelby added that she would do everything she could to keep people from drinking and driving.
"If somebody needs a ride, even if I’m not friends with them, they can give me a call and I’ll come and give them a ride," Shelby said. "I don’t want to see this happen to anybody I know."
Hogel said he's known five young people over the past five years involved in fatal DWI accidents, which was part of the reason he wanted to put this demonstration together.
"If we can influence just one person not to drink and drive then I’m happy with it," Hogel said.
Of course, just about every volunteer firefighter, police officer and EMS responder has dealt with a fatal accident. Often people they know are involved, so how these accidents effect their own families is never far from their minds.
The 17-year-old daughter of Scott Kibler, 1st Assistent for Stafford Fire, was in the audience, and Kibler said he's warned his daughter many times about drinking and driving.
"Of course, she's only 17 and shouldn't be drinking at all, but I can't be with her twenty-four-seven," Kibler said.
“I’ve told her I’ve seen what happens firsthand at fatal accidents involving alcohol," Kibler said. "As a parent, the last thing I want to do is get woken up in the middle of the night to go to a fatal where she’s involved, whether she’s involved injured or uninjured."
UPDATE: Here's the names of the students who participated. Ben Eadie road in the bird, Chelsie Hixenbaugh had the broken leg, Emily Hogle had an arm injury, Gino Forte was the drunken driver, Chris Merica played the role of DOA.
More pictures after the jump:
