Mock crash drives home real message

Editor's note: The following events are part of "Operation Grad Night," a mock DUI crash scene Tuesday at Sandpoint High School, attended by all area seniors from Sandpoint, Clark Fork, Priest River, Lake Pend Oreille and Forrest M. Bird Charter high schools.

By MARY MALONE

Staff writer

SANDPOINT — Screams erupted from the backseat of the red Pontiac as the window of the rear passenger side door shattered as the car slammed into the truck that had cut them off.

The car was so badly damaged that emergency responders had to break the windows and use special equipment to pry the doors open. Jesi Huntley was in the backseat with her friend and classmate from Priest River Lamanna High School, Heidi Janhsen, when a silver Dodge Ram cut off the Pontiac as it traveled along Highway 95. 

Two dead, five severely injured, one arrested — all were 18 with bright futures ahead before the fatal crash.

It was graduation night, 2017. Clark Fork High School seniors Allison Warner and Spencer Jeffres, and Lake Pend Oreille High School students Zackarius Johnson and Denzel Tucker, were drinking beer and taking shots around a bonfire off of Colburn Culver Road near Highway 95.

But Jeffres didn't have any shots, so he was the best choice for designated driver, right?

Wrong.

Warner, the front seat passenger, was ejected from the truck and died on scene after Jeffres failed to stop at a stop sign.

Sandpoint High School senior Bob Stevens was driving the other car and died on scene. Adeola Ogbeide, also an SHS student, was in the front seat of the Pontiac and suffered severe injury, as did Jahnsen and Huntley.

Jeffres received only minor injuries, but he will live with the guilt for the rest of his life.

Or he would have, had this been a real crash.

"This was a scenario that was set up, but it's actually more realistic than what you would think," said school resource officer Spencer Smith.

Tuesday marked the 16th annual Operation Grad Night. The crash scene was set up in the parking lot of SHS, and the eight teens volunteered to be the victims in an attempt to help educate, illustrate and prevent the dangers of drunken driving, aggressive and inattentive or distracted driving.

Since the program's inception, Smith said there have been no fatality crashes on prom or graduation nights. It may be coincidence, he said, but the event does seem to have an impact on the seniors.

"You always have a few students who take it not as seriously as others," Smith said. "That will be expected with 300 kids. But overall it's been really good — that's why we keep doing it."

Attendance at Operation Grad Night is actually required for SHS and Priest River seniors to walk at graduation, Smith said.

About 15 local emergency response and medical organizations sponsor the program, including Idaho State Police, Sandpoint and Priest River police departments, Selkirk Fire, Rescue and EMS, Bonner County EMS, Bonner County 911, Bonner General Health, Life Flight and more.

Prior to the 911 call by Huntley, all of the Bonner County seniors piled into the gym at SHS for a presentation where Trooper Jonathan Cushman with Idaho State Police went over all the ins and outs of DUI and the consequences, including the "sobering statistics." In 2014, there were 9,967 alcohol-related fatality crashes in the United States. Also in 2014, there were 49 impairment crashes in Bonner County, killing five people and injuring 34. During the question-and-answer period following the mock crash, Cushman said he was the primary investigator on three fatal DUI crashes just last year, with 26 or 27 reported in the five northern Idaho counties.

Assisting Cushman and Smith with the presentations and answering questions were ISP Trooper Troy Tulleners, Alan Brinkmeier with Bonner EMS, and Sharon Bistodeau, a registered nurse with Bonner General Health. 

Makayla Sundquist, a 2014 SHS graduate, spoke to the seniors as well, urging them to take the event and its purpose seriously. Tears came to her eyes as she stood in front of hundreds of students, describing how she might never play sports — particularly soccer — again because a drunken driver hit her car head-on nearly two years ago.

"I hope that some part of this program affects you and I hope that you take something away from it so that remember how serious this truly is," Sundquist said.

Every two minutes, someone is injured in a drunken driving crash, and Sundquist said she never thought she would be part of that of statistic. She couldn't see her legs after the crash, but she knew they hurt. It took 40 minutes for emergency responders to get her out of the car before Life Flight transported her to Kootenai Health in Coeur d'Alene. She now has a rod in her femur and rod in her tibia to "hold her bones together," she said. Even after she began to walk again, she still suffers from anxiety and depression.

"I hear people say all the time, 'I'm a good drunk driver; I'm better at driving drunk than I am sober,' — It's not funny, and it's not cute, and it's selfish," Sundquist said. "I'm not talking up here to get your pity ... I'm talking here to scare you, to make you realize that this could happen to you."

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.