Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Sunnyvale rescue personnel used the jaws of life to extract Daniel Aguirre from the passenger side of the car during a simulated drunken driving crash at Fremont Union High School.
Crash and Learn
Students get a first-hand education on the dangers of drunken driving
By Sam Scott
Before the officers began sawing through the crushed car, Wendy Baumbach, a senior at Fremont High School, said she was nervous about metal-cutting blades whirring so dangerously close to her head.
Then she and Daniel Aguirre, a junior sitting in the seat next to her, held hands for a moment. Baumbach said Aguirre whispered something that put her at ease.
"He said 'We might be saving lives."
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
A Sunnyvale Public Safety officer the officer ascertains the condition of Etelvina Alvarez, who was thrown through the windshield of her car. She was later pronounced 'DOA'.
It would be hard to argue with him. The elaborate campaign the pair took part in last week at Fremont High School explored drunk driving with a realism that was scary.
"Every 15 minutes," so-named after the average rate drunk driving deaths in the U.S., delivers a stirring message. The program, developed in 1995 by the Chico Police Department, came to Sunnyvale for the first time last week.
On April 26, the junior and senior classes at Fremont gathered on the south stand of the football stadium to watch the scene of a crash. A crushed sedan, with Baumbach and Aguirre inside, appeared to have collided head-on with an SUV. A body lay on the hood of the bigger car.
As a confused and desperate plea to 911 sounded through the PA system, Sunnyvale Public Safety responded, sending patrol cars, motorcycles, fire engines, and ambulances, to the scene. The body on the hood, dead on arrival, was covered by a cloth. Firefighters, with the jaws of life and a saw, dismantled the car to extract Baumbach and Aguirre, trapped by the wreckage. Paramedics placed Baumbach, supposedly hurt badly, on a gurney and loaded her on the Life Flight helicopter that flies to Stanford Hospital.
Aguirre, the last out of the car, was taken away in a ambulance. The coroner then loaded the "dead" girl in a body bag and took her away. The only person left from the crash, the driver of the SUV, was taken to jail--a drunk driver and a killer.
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Bill Wilson, the 'drunken driver' failed his sobriety test and was taken away in handcuffs by police.
Considering the youthful audience, the silence after the scene ended was impressive.
"You hear about it," said Ben Modlin, a junior. "But when you see it, it makes you think about it. It's sad."
Sad indeed, but second day of the program ratcheted up the emotion a notch more.
Inside the gym, a coffin was wheeled into "Tears in Heaven." Jackie Masso, a survivor of a head-on collision caused by a drunk, spoke of the pain it caused her and her family. Clay Fontes, a parent, read a later a he'd written to his son, imagining if he'd been killed in a crash. Allegra Bajkowski, a Fremont student, read a speech, imagining the thoughts for her father as she died in a crash. Public Safety Chief Ernie Bakin told of having to notify the wife of one of his officers that her husband had been killed by a drunk driver.
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
The Grim Reaper stands by the body of accident victim, Etelvina Alvarez, who was 'killed' when she was thrown through windshield during the crash. Her airbag had deployed, but she hadn't been wearing her seatbelt.
The Kleenex boxes distributed throughout the seats were getting good use by the end.
"It really makes me think twice," said Alex Coates, a senior with tears streaming down her face. "I knew today would have more of an impact [than yesterday]. I didn't think I'd be crying."
As the students were dismissed to go to lunch, Chief Bakin asked them to go in silence.
A noisy response from some students suggested not everyone was listening as intently as others, but the hugging and tearing going on by others said something else.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
