KCBD, NewsChannel 11 Lubbock |Shallowater students hit hard with drunk driving program
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By Tiffany Pelt - email
LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Shallowater students were hit hard with a dose of reality Monday as their school parking lot transformed into a staged scene of a brutal drunk driving accident - part of the two-day "Shattered Dreams" program.
Students stood watching a dramatization that seemed all too real. Students stared at the mangled red car and blood spattered everywhere as one student was taken by Aero Care, one in a hearse, and others by ambulance. The drunk driver, the person hurt the least, was taken to jail.
"Kids drinking and driving, accidents - it's a horrible situation and we feel like if we can affect one child we've done good. If we can save one life, we've helped," said Shallowater Police Officer Greg Pierce.
Some students had faces painted white symbolizing the "living dead" taken by the Grim Reaper, and the deadly consequences of driving drunk. "Seeing their friends crying and bloody everywhere, whether it's staged or not it's surreal," said student body President Kylee Silvas.
Every 15 minutes the sound of a heartbeat echoed over the intercom while the Grim Reaper marched up and down the hallways taking the life of another drunk driving victim. Their obituaries posted on the wall, and their white wooden crosses place in front of the school. "I don't like seeing my friends taken out of class, even if it's fake, because it feels so real to me because they're going to be gone and you might never see them again, and it's sad," said Shallowater junior Deandra Carrasco.
These students didn't really die but almost 12,000 people did in drunk driving accidents last year, making up 32% of all traffic accidents.
"These kids take it to heart a lot of them and it may change their life," said Pierce.
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