Sending a message about drunk driving: School administrators plead with students to make safe decisions

By Natalie Miller / Malden Observer  Fri May 22, 2009

MALDEN - Graduation is looming and prom is just around the corner; but the faces of Malden High School seniors were somber Monday morning as they witnessed what it would be like to be involved in a prom night car crash.

The Malden High School group, “Students Against Destructive Decisions,” along with Healthy Malden, organized a mock prom night crash outside of the school May 18 to show the devastating and life-altering effects of drinking and driving.

The morning’s lesson hit especially hard this year, as the mock crash was held in Malden just days after a real life post-prom crash left one pedestrian dead and another injured in Saugus over the weekend.

According to reports from the Saugus Advertiser, Jonathan Caruso, 18, of Saugus, has pleaded not guilty to charges of motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation, operating under the influence of alcohol and being a minor unlawfully transporting alcohol.

Police reports state that Caruso was behind the wheel of a Chevy Cavalier that slammed into a mother and daughter who were walking their dog on Essex Street Saturday morning. Caruso told police that he drank 10 beers while celebrating prom with friends. Police also discovered four beer cans inside the open trunk of the car, according to the report.

The Saugus mother was pronounced dead at the scene, and her daughter is in fair condition at Mass General Hospital.

Fran MacDonald from Cataldo Ambulance has been helping to organize mock car crashes in many high schools in Massachusetts for 18 years, as both a consultant and, for the last 10 years, as an employee of Cataldo. She held a mock crash in Saugus just two weeks before last Saturday’s prom.

 Mock crash

The mock prom day crash held in Malden Monday morning was assisted by members of the Malden police and fire departments, Cataldo Ambulance, Sica Towing and Norton Funeral Home.

The scene was recreated and responded to just as a real crash would be, said Assistant Fire Chief Jack Colangeli.

“What we did here is exactly what you’d see in an actual incident,” he said.

Sica Towing supplied the two vehicles that were involved in the “crash,” and students from the high school’s SADD group acted out the mock crash, which began as screaming students fled their car and tried to get rid of the empty beer cans before police arrived on the scene.

Meanwhile, a student lay “dead” in the street, a victim of the crash. Other students were trapped inside the second vehicle.

Fake blood and fake brains were placed in the street next to the “victim,” played by senior Matt Zunitch. Two students are “arrested” on scene by members of the Malden Police, as emergency crews tended to the injured parties of both vehicles involved in the mock crash and the Jaws of Life were used to get to the other students.

Onlookers consoled each other as emergency crews worked to clean up the accident and police spoke to witnesses.

Members of the senior class looked on in silence as the scene unfolded Monday morning, until they finally filed into the auditorium of the high school to attend the mock wake and funeral of their fellow students.

A casket was placed on stage, surrounded by flowers and mourners, as SADD member Taylor Lombard, who has been best friends with Zunitch since gave the eulogy. She talked about growing up together and their plans for prom, college and the future. She warned students that life is a fragile thing and no one knows how long they have.

After the mock funeral, MacDonald spoke to students about the message behind the mock crash and about the incident in Saugus.

“His life is over,” she said of Caruso. “Instead of going to more parties, graduation, he is being arraigned as we speak… A second decision can change your life.”

Julie Briggs, physical education teacher at Malden High and mentor to the SADD program, said what happened in Saugus is, “so sad.”

“You send a message and send a message, but someone wasn’t listening,” she said to students Monday.

MacDonald and Briggs both stressed to students that the point of the mock crash isn’t to scare them, instead they both gave an emotional plea to the senior class to think about good decision making.

“This class is unbelievable,” said Briggs. “Be smart the next couple of weeks…I want you to have good memories; a good life. You are in charge; you are responsible.”

Malden Principal Dana Brown echoed the sentiments of Briggs and MacDonald.

“We are not going to scare you into doing the right thing,” he said. “I’m pleading, begging you to make good decisions.”

He reminded the students to support each other in doing the right thing.

“Let’s have everyone on the stage for the June 7 graduation,” he said. “Let’s have a good, safe few weeks.”

Students then heard from quest speaker, Joan Aeschlimann, school nurse at Saugus High School, who told students that she gave the same lecture to her students in Saugus two weeks ago.

“I am a single mother,” she began as she recounted the story of how her husband died in a fiery car crash after consuming alcohol earlier in the day. He had to leave the house to see a patient, and Aeschlimann said she is just glad her 11-year-old daughter wasn’t in the car at the time, and no one else was injured as a result of her husband’s actions.

She also spoke to students about the tragic ending to Saugus’ prom last weekend, telling students that yes, “Jonathan is a good kid. Jonathan killed someone… You know, my husband was a really nice guy.

“This one 18 year old kid make a stupid decision,” she said. “Please enjoy your prom; look beautiful. Enjoy senior week, but don’t make a stupid decision.”

 A SADD reaction

Malden’s SADD group holds seminars throughout the year on a variety of destructive behaviors, such as drug use, teen pregnancy, depression, and relationship abuse.

SADD member Jillian Dervishian said the mock crash and funeral was really hard to see. It’s hard to think about a fellow classmate being killed that way, she said.

“We always see Matt in the hallway,” she said.

Even though he didn’t really die, said fellow SADD member Christina Valent, it was hard to see his picture on the casket.

Lombard said it was weird writing his friend’s eulogy.

“When I was reading it, I was thinking, ‘This could be real.’ It could happen to anyone,” she said, adding that a lot of kids think they are invincible, that it couldn’t happen to them.

Colangeli said student reaction usually spans from horror to concern.

“People don’t realize until they see with their own eyes how horrific these events can be,” he said. “It’s extremely important for kids to see the effects of drinking and driving.”

Healthy Malden’s Kevin Duffy said the organizers of the mock event try to make it as realistic as possible so students feel the tragedy of lives lost young.

“It is the reality of this mock moment that drives home the danger of these destructive decisions,” he said. With the media’s glamorization of drinking, it is vitally important for students to be firsthand witnesses to the deadly consequences of driving after drinking, and we hope these lessons stay with them long after they are home safe and sound from their prom.”

Original story with photos can be found here:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/malden/news/x2085725987/Sending-a-message-about-drunk-driving-School-administrators-plead-with-students-to-make-safe-decisions