The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
A SOBERING DISPLAY
Oneida High School drives point home with mock DWI crash
ONEIDA, N.Y. » With junior prom right around the corner, the Oneida City High School urged students to be safe and warned of the dangers of drunk driving.
With help from the Oneida City Police Department, Oneida Fire Department, Vineall Ambulance, the Madison County District Attorney’s Office and the Ironside Funeral Home, Oneida High School presented their mock DWI accident.
As students started to fill the bleachers, student actors were already screaming and begging for help in the aftermath of a two car vehicle collision. One person lay prone on the hood, halfway ejected from their passenger seat and through the windshield while passengers and drivers panicked.
Sirens wailed in the distance and emergency responders rushed to the scene as they attempted to make sense of just what had happened.
A number of students looked visibly uncomfortable when a black sheet was draped over one of the actors and Juvenile Aide Officer Christopher Bailey kept a screaming mother and father from rushing the scene.
“It’s a serious situation,” High School Principal Brian Gallagher said. “I’m going to talk as a parent. Prom night is going to be a very fun night. It’s an event the teachers have spent a lot of time on to make it a special night. But we need a commitment from the students. We don’t want a tragedy.”
Gallagher reassured students and said that if they were in a situation that might leave their parents mad, their parents were young and made mistakes as well.
“Every one of your parents would rather receive a phone call from you saying that you need help than to experience something like that,” Gallagher said. “My kids are all your age andwhen I watch that, it makes me sick to my stomach.”
Taking the role of the fatality for the mock DWI accident was Kyle Aserian, a high school senior and drama student.
“I volunteered because I would never want to see anyone go through the same incident like that and come to school, knowing there was one empty
seat,” Aserian said. “What worries me is the afterparty when prom is done.”
Aserian said he was sure over 90 percent of the junior prom attendees would go to an after party and warned students after the mock DWI to be careful.
“If you do go to a party, make sure you keep yourself in check so nothing like this happens to you,” Aserian said. “It’s supposed to be a fun and a memorable night.”
Police Chief Paul Thompson and Fire Chief Kevin Salerno talked with students after the event and urged them to remain safe. They reminded students that what they say could happen.
“I want to talk to you as an alum of Oneida High School,” Thompson said. “I have four yearbooks at home from when I went to school and I think every single one of them has a page dedicated to somebody that never made it out of high school, most typically because of a car accident. It’s something that’s real.”
Thompson not only urged students to be wary of drinking anddriving, but also of texting while driving and how that can be just as dangerous and driving while intoxicated.
“Part of the hardest problem for people in our career, especially in a small town like Oneida, we know everyone. It’s very difficult to go on these calls when people you know are involved,” Salerno said. “We want you to have a great time, but also to use your heads.”
Bryce Sgarlata, a junior at OHS said it was the first time seeing a mock DWI.
“We saw Aserian’s body on the hood, so the scene was set. Right of the bat, you know the car got tboned and there was so much screaming. It was messy,” Sgarlata said. “The police came and the ambulance and it’s just horrible to think that can happen.”
Sgarlata wasn’t impacted directly by a drunk driver in his life, but his brother Dakota was friends with Kane Buss, the 19-yearold Oneida teen who was killed by a drunk driver on his way home from a date with his girlfriend on Jan. 18, 2015.
“My parents hammer this home. I can’t even imagine myself being around a car with a drink in my hand, let alone drink,” Sgarlata said. “My parents will be personally picking me up and dropping me off to wherever I need to go, so I have that figured out. And if we see anyone in rough shape, we’ll help.”