Every 15 minutes, a person is killed in an alcohol-related
traffic collision in the United States, according to the brochure
distributed Thursday at the Live Oak High mass
“funeral’” as students and parents gathered to mourn the
“deaths” of 25 of their classmates.
Every 15 minutes, a person is killed in an alcohol-related traffic collision in the United States, according to the brochure distributed Thursday at the Live Oak High mass “funeral’” as students and parents gathered to mourn the “deaths” of 25 of their classmates.
For two days, students lived through what has become an unfortunately regular event across the nation. With the help of 13 agencies and organizations, nearly 200 volunteers and the support of local businesses, students witnessed on Wednesday a simulated drunk driving collision on the football field.
“This was such a powerful event, an emotion-filled couple of days,” said parent Kathy McBride, who coordinated the event. Her daughter and her daughter’s friends, Kaitlin McHargue, Jacquelyn Tennant and Eileen Grove had heard about the program and urged their parents to try to stage it at Live Oak.
“They told us, ‘We need it here,” McBride said.
The program, called “Every 15 Minutes,” began Wednesday morning at 6am, as nearly 200 people gathered on Richert Field, representatives from the different agencies involved and parent volunteers, to set up the crash site. A head-on collision between a pickup and a small sedan was set up on the field.
“Mother Nature wasn’t cooperating, of course, and we had to be careful of the new field, so we piggy-backed plywood to get the vehicles out there,” McBride said. “We also had to set up 800 chairs on the track, so we could get the whole student body out there to watch.”
Then the Grim Reaper went into action. Ten days earlier, 26 students had been picked to be the “drunk driver” and his 25 “victims.” On Wednesday morning, the Grim Reaper visited classrooms, pulling out the dead.
“We had to change our plans and start at zero period,” McBride said, “because it didn’t look as if we would have enough time otherwise.”
By 9am, McBride said, they were ready to go. The student body assembled on the field, and through a sound system, they heard police dispatchers reporting the “accident.”
The rescue vehicles began arriving, coming to the school in Code 3, sirens blaring and red lights flashing. There were representatives from the CHP, MHPD, American Medical Response, Emergency Medical Services, Sheriff’s Office, the Coroner’s Office, Santa Clara County Communications and the County Fire Department.
The rescue operation was under way. Unfortunately, one “DOA,” or dead-on-arrival, Jessica Towner, lay on the field where she was “thrown” from one of the vehicles. She was covered with a tarp as emergency personnel busied themselves trying to rescue those still living.
As the Grim Reaper hovered at the scene, with 22 of the student “victims,” faces painted a ghastly pale, stood by, silent, and motionless. Two of the student “victims,” covered with “blood” and “abrasions,” were in the sedan. The Jaws of Life rescue tool was brought in while emergency personnel used axes and other equipment in an attempt to free them.
Meanwhile, “drunk driver” Curtis Giacalone, “blood” dripping from his mouth, was given a breathalyzer test. Officers questioned him, while giving him a sobriety test.
He was later handcuffed, put into a squad car and taken to jail, where he was placed in the drunk tank after calling his family.
The two “critically injured” students were carefully freed from the mangled vehicle and treated for their “injuries” at the scene. The were loaded into ambulances and taken to the hospital, and their parents were notified.
Jessica, however, once examined by the representative from the Coroner’s Office, had a “Jane Doe” tag placed on her toe and was loaded into a body bag bound for the morgue. Her family was notified to come and identify her at the morgue.
“What is so powerful about this is that they really go through with it,” said Live Oak ASB Director Norm Dow, who, along with ASB students, assisted in coordinating the event. “The students actually go to the hospital, the parents are actually notified by officers arriving at their homes. The family of the DOA actually went to the morgue and saw her body in a body bag.”
On Thursday, there was a mock graveyard on campus, with “tombstones” for the 25 students. That morning, the entire student body assembled again for a mock funeral, complete with bagpipes.
“It was heart-wrenching and powerful,” said Police Lt. Joe Samson, who spoke at the “funeral.” “We hope that the message will get home, and we and the other agencies involved won’t have to be involved with a real situation like this with any of our Morgan Hill kids.”
Principal Nick Boden said the event made an impact on the students.
“We had counselors all over the place, and they talked to many of the students. There was a lot of emotion flowing around here, but nothing was more than we anticipated.”
Counselors and clergy from the Center for Living with Dying, Community Solutions and West Hills Church were on hand to offer support to students.
There was concern on Monday, McBride said, as the student body was told of the death of a Live Oak junior, Jeremy Baeza, a 16-year-old junior at Live Oak High School, died Sunday while riding at Hollister Hills.
The decision was made to go ahead with the event. McBride said friends of Baeza were among the student “victims” and said they needed to go through with it.
The only inappropriate reaction, Sampson said, came Wednesday morning as the Grim Reaper was tapping his “victims.”
A Special Ed student apparently thought the Grim Reaper was one of the teachers and did not take the reaper’s entrance into the classroom seriously, Sampson said. Although the report was not complete Thursday, Sampson said he learned that the student threw a handball, a hard rubber ball, at the sheriff’s deputy dressed in costume. The ball hit the deputy, Sampson said, and the student was apparently not cooperative. He was arrested and taken to the police station, where he was later released to his family.
Dow said the plan is to put the program on again at Live Oak in four years; Sampson said it will likely be at Sobrato High in two years.
The program was funded with a $5,000 grant from the CHP plus $5,000 raised by parent volunteers and ASB.
On Tuesday: Live Oak students talk about their reactions to “Every 15 Minutes.”
