On May 6, at Inglemoor High, a dramatic and frightful scene was reenacted as part of the annual DUI assembly. With the help from several student actors, medics, police officers and firefighters, an entire portrayal of a real accident was put on for the graduating class of 2011.
All the actors in the simulation were Inglemoor High seniors and none of them had practiced before the performance. It was all done on the spot.
Across the hood of a wrecked green sedan was the “corpse” of senior Leigh Douglas, who had been thrown through the windshield and killed on impact when a drunk driver hit the car she was riding in. For nearly the entire assembly, Douglas laid across the hood in the wind and rain, covered in masterfully applied fake blood.
“It was hard putting myself in that mental space,” Douglas said. “My best friends were in such distress and not being able to comfort them was very difficult.”
Before the guest speakers came on, Douglas, still covered in fake blood, read a poem called “Prom Poem,” which was the reason most of the audience broke into tears, if they hadn’t already.
“The poem she read really hit home,” senior Marie Larsen said. “With me, and others.”
Senior Alex Gajowski played the drunk driver in the other car. He was on his way home from prom with three other passengers when he crossed lanes and struck the passing sedan at 60 mph.
Gajowski says that after getting all the way through high school, “it’s stupid to throw it all away by driving drunk.”
“The right decision is so easy to make,” Gajowski said. “I want to see everyone at Inglemoor succeed to their full potential.”
Kate Wokowsky was a passenger in Gajowski’s car.
“We were put into the cars and were given a few minutes to focus,” Wokowsky said. “I’d never been in a smashed car before.”
The blood on her hands and the screams of her friends made the moment feel very surreal for Wokowsky. She remembered looking at the crowd as she was carried away on a stretcher and seeing scared and worried faces.
Kenmore Police officers Mark Childers and Lt. Steve Loutsis narrated the scene for the audience of high-school students. They described what was happening as the passengers were rescued from the wreckage with the Jaws of Life and explained the consequences of drunk driving as Gajowski was read his rights and placed in the back of a police car.
“I hope the effect is that (the students) think this can happen to anybody,” Childers said. “With the medics and fire departments there, I hope it helps them to understand how real it can be.”
When it comes to driving drunk, “Everybody loses,” Loutsis said to the crowd.
It was anticipated for a rescue helicopter to arrive on scene, but due to poor weather conditions, it was unable to arrive. Rainbow Towing donated the cars used in the simulation to the Kenmore Police Department.
The elements in this year’s annual DUI assembly made for a very emotional experience for all those watching.
As Larsen said afterward, “I never want to see anyone I love be in an accident like this when it is so easily preventable.”
Hillary Sanders is an Inglemoor High senior.
