Consequences of DUI detailed in mock crash

MOSES LAKE - Partying should come with a plan. And maybe a couple of backup plans. That was one of the messages that the emergency service personnel wanted the students to take away from the Community Partnership Against Substance Abuse at Big Bend Community College Wednesday.

"I think a good place to start is to have a plan," said Aaron Norton of the Washington State Patrol, and Quincy Police Department officer Albert Gonzalez agreed with that. "Have a plan, is the main thing," Gonzalez said.

But a plan can go awry in a situation where people are drinking, maybe drinking to excess. That's where backup plans come in. "Plan A, plan B, plan C," Washington State Patrol officer Chris Kotong said.

This is the eighth year BBCC officials and students have presented a daylong look at controlled substances and the trouble, even tragedy, that can result if someone who is intoxicated decides to drive.

Gonzalez was one of two Quincy officers overseeing SIDNE, a go-kart that simulates what happens when the driver is under the influence. Norton was one of the officers that responded to a mock DUI crash in the college parking lot.

"Please, please, have a designated driver, or stay where you're at," said Stormy Baughman, who's also with the Quincy PD. And if those options aren't working, "call family, friends or a taxi," said Josh Sainsbury, a deputy with the Grant County Sheriff's Office.

The one really bad option is to get in a car and drive after consuming intoxicants, the police officers said. "It can hinder every decision you make from that point on," Sainsbury said.

That is assuming nothing happens on the ride home, and the mock DUI is designed to demonstrate what can happen on the way home.

Luis Jimenez, of Moses Lake, is in the BBCC class that sponsors the program, and he played the drunk driver. (He was placed in handcuffs, and they hurt, he said.)

Roger Martinez, of Othello, was a passenger in the car hit by the drunk driver and had to be cut out by firefighters with Grant County Fire District No. 5. The first responders treated it like a real accident. "I was pretty surprised" by the way the firefighters handled the scene, Martinez said. "They go all out. They don't leave anything to chance."

The MedStar helicopter and its crew were supposed to participate in the mock crash, but they had to respond to a genuine emergency. That's a lesson in itself, Martinez said. "Anybody could die. Anybody could get hurt," he said.

Organizer Ryann Leonard said she wanted people to think twice before they act. "I hope they take away that they need to think first," she said.

Other activities included a presentation by a family impacted by a DUI crash, first responders who talked about what they see at accident scenes and what happens when a DUI case reaches court.