Driver Alex Adams stumbled out of the mini-van screaming and crying. He couldn’t believe what was happening.
Meowset Abbett pounded on the passenger-side window in fear — with fake blood on her hands and face — pleading for Adams to get her out of the smashed van.
Inglemoor High students may have been acting out a drunken-driving accident last Friday, which featured two vehicles and several ‘fatalities,’ but Kenmore Police Officer Mark Childers stepped forward and addressed the senior Vikings about what not to do — on their upcoming prom night or any night of the year.
“Don’t disrespect your family, don’t disrespect yourself to make the choice (to drink and drive),” Childers said, noting that the student actors were spot-on with their performance in that accidents and deaths are very real with high-school students. “You’ll think about this the rest of the day, the rest of the school year — and beyond. It affects the whole community.”
Set on campus near the softball field, this was the Northshore Fire Department’s 13th year simulating the event for Viking seniors. The assembly featured fire trucks, police vehicles, ambulances and a helicopter touching down on the nearby practice soccer pitch.
The event was clearly a moving experience for students and actors, some of whom embraced and wiped tears from their eyes afterward.
“I’ve never been in an ambulance before … I never wanna be in that situation again because it was so real,” said actor Kennan Miller, who was shocked at seeing classmate and close friend Kate Hoffman “dead” on the scene. “This was tough enough as it is — you see people crying. If Kate actually died … it’s like killing off your brother or somebody you’ve been around with for a long period of time. You’re never gonna be able to live it down because there’s always that one night that I’ll never forget.”
Added student Jake Lowe: “I personally don’t drink, and still knowing the dangers out there when you’re not the one that’s the drunk driver is still really freaky.”
Sandra Rhone, whose son, Steven (a 2006 Inglemoor High graduate), was killed by a drunken driver, also told her emotional story to the crowd.
Northshore Fire Department Lt. Steve Loutsis has been involved in the event for 10 years at Inglemoor and said it gives the students a reality check and makes a true impact on them.
“I know in previous years, we’ve heard feedback from the officers that frequent the high school, that students have said, ‘You know, I was gonna do this on prom night, but I’m not,” he said. “So we know for a fact that we’ve made a difference.”
