Warden students witness mock DUI aftermath

WARDEN - So many people came to Garritt Marks' "funeral" they had to use the Warden High School gym.

It kind of didn't matter that Garritt wasn't really dead, because that was Garritt in the coffin and it really was five of his friends, dressed like they were at a funeral, bringing the coffin into the gym like real pallbearers. That really was Garritt's mom talking about him, reminiscing about making the music mixes for the basketball team's pregame warm-ups, and wishing they had more time together.

The "funeral" was part of a demonstration of the real-life dangers of driving while under the influence of intoxicants. Warden students followed the whole story, from the "crash," to the response from Grant County Fire District No. 4, to the arrival of the coroner and removal of the "body," complete with body bag.

It was the culminating project for seniors Victoria Martinez, Miexi Gonzalez and Bianca Hernandez. It was the first mock DUI crash at Warden school in a while, Hernandez said, and the mock funeral was something new to school.

Bianca said the girls chose to do the mock DUI crash because they know drinking - and drinking and driving - are a problem in Warden, including the high school. They wanted to do something that hopefully would make a difference, Hernandez said.

District No. 4 firefighters and EMS personnel swarmed all over the two vehicle involved in the "collision," using extraction tools to cut the roofs off and remove the "passengers," Hailey Yamani, Joseph Pruneda and Heidi Gonzales. Two of them were mock-injured badly enough to require a call to MedStar and a mock airlift from the scene.

Then there was a call for the coroner. "One confirmed," the EMT said.

Marks was removed, zipped into a body bag and driven away in the coroner's vehicle. While the "victims" were being attended to, the mock drunk driver Adam Hansen, was undergoing a field sobriety test and being arrested.

The whole afternoon was dramatic, but does a demonstration like that make a difference? After all, there's a lot of talk out there about not driving impaired all the time.

"My hope is that we're going to make it through that noise," said principal Chris Rust. He could tell it had an impact even before the mock funeral started, he said. The whole high school was in the gym, and "there isn't a sound."

"One decision can affect everyone," Hernandez said, such as friends, parents, people the drunk driver doesn't even know. Rust said he thought kids might listen a little closer when the "victim" was someone they knew and respected.

Senior Wyatt Newhouse said he thought it would make a difference. "It can happen any day."

"It has happened any day," said senior Dereck Delgado. Even though it was a mock crash, cutting people out of cars was happening right in front of their eyes. "It's kind of haunting if you see it," Delgado said.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office presented a program in impaired driving at every school in Grant County but Warden in 2011, said sheriff's sergeant Josh Sainsbury. That effort followed a nine-month period where eight young people, ages 15 to 21, were killed in traffic accidents in the county, either because drivers were driving impaired or speeding. Since the presentations there's been one impaired-driving fatality among the same age group in the county, he said.