April 3, 2007

A crash course in drunk driving

CHP, fire, police and ambulance personnel descend on Westmont
High School for ‘Every 15 Minutes’ program

By Julie Davis Berry
Executive Editor

There was a tragic traffic collision at Westmont High School on March 28, which left two students dead on arrival, two students critically injured and one student carted off to jail to deal with a possible manslaughter sentence for driving under the influence.

Firefighters from Santa Clara county and San Jose help to try to extricate Abe Matsui from a vehicle as part of the Every 15 Minute” program in the parking lot of Westmont High on March 28. Photo by Dan Miranda

Nobody came out of this unscathed.

Fortunately, this was only a very realistic portrayal of what can happen in the flash of an instant when teenagers, and drinking and driving collide.

The Every 15 Minutes program began in the early 1990s as a device by the California Highway Patrol to scare new drivers into making appropriate decisions while behind the wheel and as passengers. The program takes 8-10 months to plan with school officials according to Virginia Jones, the program coordinator for American Medical Response. “It’s important for the kids to be surprised by the event because we never know when we are going to die,” said Jones. “We never know when it’s coming.”

The name of the program derives from the fact that every 15 minutes someone in the United States dies in an alcohol-related traffic collision. Jones points out that thanks to the implementation of new laws and programs like these the death rate is now every 30 minutes.

It took a village to pull off this first time event at Westmont High School. Members of the California Highway Patrol, American Medical Response, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department, San Jose Police Department, Depart-ment of Corrections, Office of Traffic and Safety, San Jose Fire Department, Santa Clara County Communications, Santa Clara County Fire, Santa Clara County Office of the Coroner and Valley Medical Center all participated enthusiastically in the event. The program was coordinated on-site by Westmont teacher Jennifer Primmer and parent Chris Chapman.

The crash
On Wednesday, March 28 at 10 a.m. the “Grim Reaper” visited 22 classrooms and quietly signaled to a student in each that they were to follow him.

An Emergency Medical technician for AMR puts plastic over the body of Westmont high student Kristen Prigatano during the "Every 15 Minutes” program. Prigatano was playing a dead victim of a drunk driving accident. Photo by Dan Miranda

At 10:30 a.m. junior and senior students were released from their classrooms and led out to the parking lot where bleachers faced cars covered with black plastic sheets. They sat somberly while a 911 call was broadcast from the office. There had been a bad accident at Westmont High School. Sirens rang out within a minute and soon fire trucks, ambulances and police were on the scene. The black plastic was pulled off two cars to reveal a horrific crash scene with dead bodies of their fellow students on the pavement and a dazed football player stumbling over beer bottles to get out of his car.

Mercedes Raman lay bleeding from a head wound in the street. Kristen Prigatano had been thrown through the windshield onto the oncoming car’s hood and was not moving as she lay bleeding profusely from the head. Abe Matsui sat silently in the passenger seat of one of the vehicles with his bloody eyeball hanging out of its’ socket. Hannah Scott lay critically injured in the driver’s seat of the car that was hit. Sean Hutchison climbed out of his car and stumbled over beer bottles as he surveyed the wreckage.

As the professionals went to work at the scene checking for a pulse and putting two bodies to the side on stretchers to wait for the coroner and used the “jaws of life” to get to the injured, a dazed Sean was pulled to the side by a police officer who asked him some pointed questions.

“I can kind of smell alcohol on you,” said the officer. “And your eyes are wet and watery. Have you had any drinks tonight?”

Sean responded that he had had six or seven beers in “about an hour.” The officer’s response was to administer a field sobriety test, which Sean failed miserably. The officer then placed Sean under arrest for driving under the influence and placed him in a squad car.

The Grim Reaper hovers over the accident scene, signifying that an injured person will soon die as part of the “Every 15 Minutes” drunk driving program at Westmont High in Campbell on March 28. Photo by Dan Miranda

As the critically injured were loaded into ambulances the grim reaper placed a hand on one window signaling that the injured student inside wouldn’t make it. The coroner arrived on scene and went to work wrapping Mercedes and Kristen’s bodies in heavy plastic and zipping them up before placing them in the coroner’s van to head to the morgue.

The whole presentation took a little over an hour. “We slow down the rescue for the presentation and do it in stages so the kids can really see how rescues play out. In real life we aim to get them out and sent off to the hospital within seven minutes,” said Jones.

Senior Sali Aldabbagh said that she thought the crash scene was really effective and was looking forward to the next day’s presentation, but her friend Samantha Robinson said she didn’t like the grim reaper coming into the classroom. “It was too fake,” she said.

Many of the professionals on the scene were in a somber mood. It seemed like everyone had been personally touched by a drunk driver. “I have to wear sunglasses because it affects me,” said San Jose Police Officer L. Perry Birch. “I had a cousin who was killed by a drunk driver when he was 19. I was in my late teens and my mom was looking for me all night long. When I finally came home she said he was out driving with his girlfriend and a drunk driver hit them and killed my cousin.”

The funeral
The next day a funeral for the victims and the “living dead” who participated in the program was held in the gym. A somber processional led by a bagpiper walked into the gym with the “living dead” acting as pallbearers. Parents and family members sat in one section and firefighters, police and other dignitaries sat in another. All were armed with boxes of tissues.

Darrien Broadnax gets emotional while reading a letter to his mother after he “died.” A sheriff stands by his side to steady the teen. Two students fainted during the first day of the program. Photo by Julie Davis Berry.

Jones shared that since the program had begun the day before 48 people had died. “This morning at 5 a.m. a 32-year-old woman died at Valley Medical Center. She was driving 100 mph on Los Gatos Boulevard when her car hit a power pole. She was driving under the influence.”

A video presentation was shown of the previous day’s events, edited by junior Evan Johnson, who working along with his assistant Mithel Munshi, to marry visuals of the accident to a rich array of popular music bringing tears to the eyes of many in the audience.

Santa Clara Fire Department Captain Joe Enfantino, a Westmont Alumni said that he’d gone to many of the class reunions. But he warned, “Take a look around you. Because I’m telling you from experience that they won’t all make it to those reunions. We’ve lost 20 people in my class and a good percentage of those deaths had to do with drugs and alcohol.”

Several of the family members, friends and even the “dead” themselves got up to speak and read letters they had written at a retreat.

Noah Oftedahl read a letter to his “dead” friend Kevin Guillen. “I never got a chance to tell you what a great influence you were on my life. We’ll never be able to go on that road trip. You had such a great future. Our group will no longer be called “The Guys” because you are gone.”

Sean Hutchison, who played the drunk driver, goes through a field sobriety test as part of the "Every 15 Minutes” drunk driving program at Westmont High in Campbell on March 28.

Ryan Picchi’s father Paul, a firefighter, read a letter that said, “I never got a chance to say goodbye to you. Your mom, sister and grandparents will never get over this. Don’t forget your little cousin Sophia…she’ll be asking “Where’s Ry Ry? Our family will never be the same without you. I wanted to be there to celebrate your first fire. I’ll never be able to help you with your truck. There will be a huge hole in my life forever.”

Judith Hutchison, a fifth grader teacher at Marshall Lane had taught many of the students in the gym. Her son Sean had been charged with DUI in the accident and she read an eloquent letter to him which brought him and many in the audience to tears.

“Yesterday the most tragic incident occurred that could happen to a person,” read Hutchison. “Your father and I love you. You are not a bad person. Anyone could have made this horrible mistake. Now you’ll be seen as the drunk loser who killed four of your friends. There will be a price to pay. Try to honor that responsibility. Please try to find a way to honor the families touched by this loss.”

Darrien Broadnax, a “living dead” broke down while reading a letter he wrote to his mother. “Dear Mama, you taught me to be a responsible, well-mannered young man. My friends’ parents used to joke that they wished I was their son. You did a good job. I’m going to miss you so much…”

Principal Owen Hege addressed the audience after the ‘funeral.’

“We held this at this time of year because there is a lot of emotion involved with the prom and graduation and there is a tremendous dichotomy between happiness and tears. We’re hoping that you took something valuable away from this presentation.”

A mother’s anguish
The Keynote Speaker was Judy Peckler, a Los Gatos woman who lost her husband and two youngest children in a drunken driving accident 10 years ago.

“My name’s Judy and I’m really just a mom. That’s all I ever wanted to be. This presentation represents my family’s shattered dreams except in our case there were three caskets instead of one and they held my husband and two youngest children.

Hutchison is comforted by his friend Kevin Guillen while his mother reads a letter to him about the effects of the decision he made to drive while inebriated. "Your father and I know you are not a bad person. Anyone could have made this mistake. Now you have to live your whole life helping others to make up for the damage you’ve done.” Photos by Dan Miranda

“They were killed on Friday night Jan. 17, 1997. My husband Jim was 52, my daughter Jill was 21 and my son Jeffrey was 15. They were only five minutes from Northstar. The night was clear. They were coming around the corner on a mountain road and coming in the other direction was a three-time drunken driving offender. He’d been drinking at the casinos that night. For some reason drunks are drawn to light and when my husband rounded the corner the drunk driver drove right into their car.

“Nothing could have saved them but that man’s choice to drive that night.”

She went on to detail her lost family members many accomplishments while their pictures faced the audience. Jill, 21 at the time of her death, was going to be a doctor. Jeff, 15 at the time of his death, was about to get his permit. Her husband Jim, 52, had volunteered many times over the years to put on the Grad Night celebration at Los Gatos High so that graduates could party in a safe surrounding.

The drunk driver who killed Pecklers’ family members was convicted of second degree murder and received 24 years in prison.

Peckler stressed the importance of designating a driver. “We are all victims of drunk drivers. Drunk driving is never okay. Designate a driver. Don’t allow others to drink and drive. And parents, don’t host parties with alcohol. Parents must mentor behavior you expect from your children. Don’t drive late at night, especially on holidays.”

CHP officer D.J Sarabia wipes a tear from his face during the mock funeral during the second day of the "Every 15 Minutes” program at Westmont high in Campbell on March 29. Photo by Dan Miranda

As Peckler said to a hushed audience, “when you are discussing a car accident—I prefer you call it a crash–it is always someone’s choice to get into a car after drinking – and someday it might be yours.”

After the funeral, family members and fire and police professionals gathered by the pool for a luncheon. There were many emotional moments as parents reunited with their “dead” children. “It was a shock at the hospital to see him like that. He was critically injured and died at the hospital,” said Abe Matsui Sr. “He was hit by a car while riding a bike two years ago and he was in the same room at Valley Med!” His son, Abe Jr. said he would never take his parents for granted again.

Another “living dead” student William Whitney said, “It makes you understand how much your death would affect your family, your friends and their families. Always have a designated driver and if you need to call your parents to pick you up do it. It is up to us to spread the word to our friends about what we’ve been through and what we’ve learned.”