On the eve of their junior/senior prom, students at Northeast Jones High School got a graphic reminder of what can go wrong if they choose to drive drunk. Not only did they get the simulated crash between vehicles, but they got to see a heart-tugging simulation of the immediate aftermath of a crash, from first-responders working to rescue the victims to the mother of the deceased victim screaming for her child to another crash victim being helicoptered from the football field the driver being led away in handcuffs. Officials from the Jones County Sheriff’s Department and volunteer fire departments, Mississippi Highway Patrol, Rescue 7 Air Ambulance, EMServ Ambulance, Jones County Emergency Management Agency, Jones County Coroner’s Office and Memory Chapel Funeral Home worked together to make the experience realistic. Rebecca Yarnell, who works at Trustmark National Bank, portrayed the grieving mother — but her pain was real. She lost her 29-year-old cousin DeAnna M. Tucker to a drunk driver on the coast in 2011, as she was leaving a dress shop two weeks before her wedding. Lance Chancellor of the JCSD and Powers Fire & Rescue thanked the people at Trustmark for letting her off work on their busiest day to be there. Flynt’s Towing and Recovery provided the crashed vehicles and NEJ students played the roles of victims in the cars. One of those, Shea Graham, above, read a poem that was written from the perspective of a child who didn’t drink but was killed by a drunk driver. In the bottom photo, Powers Assistant Chief Bo Burroughs and Deputy Coroner Don Sumrall assist Memory Chapel Funeral Home workers with placing the “body” in the back of a hearse. Motivational speaker Dwight Owens, who spoke to students before the simulation, was paralyzed in a crash with a drunk driver several years ago, He used his own story to drive home a point after the smoke had cleared and the helicopter had taken off: “I’m in this chair due to someone else’s choice to drink and drive,” he said. “Make the right choice!”
Video available at leader-call.com (Photos by Mark Thornton)
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