CHIMACUM – High school students got a close and personal look at what a drunken-driving head-on car crash is like on Monday morning.
In a warning timed for spring prom-goers this weekend, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and a medical helicopter conducted a mock two-car collision – complete with six students in prom attire and fake blood.
“Our goal was to show the students from Chimacum High School what happens on scene when we arrive at an accident,” said Julie Mathews, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue public education specialist, who designed and coordinated the demonstration.
“It’s not only the students who are injured, but it’s family and others they are hurting when they choose to get into a car with someone who has been drinking – or even worse if they are the driver themselves.”
The field behind the high school campus was swarming with firefighters, paramedics and sheriff’s deputies while the entire student body encircled the scene.
While firefighters used the “jaws of life” device to extricate the crash victims from the car, Luke Clum, an 18-year-old senior who was portraying the drunken driver of one of the cars, was given a field sobriety test.
He sloppily walked a line on the ground, read his rights and arrested.
