Commentary: This Simply Cannot Be a Laughing Matter

Menifee 24/7 photos: Kristen Spoon

By Doug Spoon, Menifee 24/7 Editor

It's time to get serious.

Time to get serious about the choices we make. Time to get serious about the consequences of those choices.

Time to stand up for ourselves and realize what a difference it can make.

The California Highway Patrol and volunteer staff and students conducted one of those "Every 15 Minutes" demonstrations the last two days at Heritage High School. Many of you experienced a program like this in your high school days. They stage an accident scene involving a drunk teen driver, at least one fatality, and multiple injuries. "Dead" students are removed from class and don't come back for two days. An assembly on the second day resembles a funeral, with grieving parents reading letters to their deceased children.

It is not a joke. The blood is not real, but the message is. Don't drink and drive. Every 15 minutes, someone in this country dies because of it. Programs like this are presented in dramatic fashion, in the hope high school students will take them seriously. Most do. Unfortunately, some don't.

The problem won't go away until "most" becomes "all." Meanwhile, let's support those who at least are trying.

At about 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, CHP Officer Mike Lassig approached me as I was preparing to cover the event for Menifee 24/7. Having checked on all the participants, he was hopeful of a presentation that would make an impact on the 1,200 or so juniors and seniors who would watch the demonstration in the stadium parking lot. There would be two smashed cars, bodies lying around, emergency responders, an arrest, a coroner's van.

"This happens every day, man," he said. "I see this all the time, for real."

Soon, the students were brought outside and lined the borders of the parking lot. Tarps were removed from the mangled vehicles. A 911 call was broadcast over the sound system. Sirens screamed toward the school. Out of one car emerged Brianna Oliva, portraying a student who caused the accident by drinking and driving.

A few feet away, in the other vehicle, Gilbert Hernandez lay motionless, covered in "blood", thrown through the windshield and prone on the hood of the car. Soon, with the Grim Reaper standing by, he was pronounced dead.

Chatter and laughter present in the crowd at the start began to subside. Most watched respectfully as the scenario played out. Daniella Lopez, found on the asphalt after being thrown from the first vehicle, was treated and transported to the hospital by helicopter. Zachary Wells and Anthony Rodriguez, who were traveling in the vehicle with Hernandez, were treated for minor injuries.

Firefighters literally cut off the roof of the suspect vehicle to free Bailey Doehr, who was trapped in the back seat. Meanwhile, a CHP officer administered a sobriety test to Brianna Oliva.

The actions of the officer were clear for all to see. Brianna was told to "walk in a straight line." She was questioned and was administered a breathalyzer test. Then she was placed under arrest and an officer prepared to handcuff her. From the crowd of students came these shouts heard across the pavement.

"Run! Run, Brianna, run!"

"She couldn't even walk a straight line."

This, followed by laughter from a few of those in the same general area.

The rest, silence.

As principal Frank Arce told the students the next day in the final assembly of Every 15 Minutes, "Thank you to the vast majority of you who were respectful throughout this. Don't worry about the few knuckleheads who acted up. I will deal with them."

Ultimately, it will be up to the vocal minority to deal with themselves, to determine the choices they make when the blood is real.

I'm 61 years old. It's been a while since I was in high school. But I remember the awkwardness of interaction between teenagers when everyone wants to be "cool." One of your buddies says or does something he or she shouldn't, you laugh and go along. You want to be accepted, go along with the "crowd."

It might seem difficult to walk away or stand up and say, "Knock it off. That's enough."

For me, the pressures were felt more in college and in my early years as a sports writer. You know, the kind of job where they pay you to go to ballgames, hang out with the players, write a story and then go have a few beers with your sports writer buddies. At least that's what we thought back in the 1980s.

On road trips, we would talk about which nightclub we would visit long before the game was over. We were away from home, among our peers. We wanted to stick together. We drank together. Who cared? We could hop in a cab to get back to the hotel. No harm, no foul.

Until the one day before a Dodgers game in New York when one of my buddies asked me about something crazy I did the night before. And I had no idea what he was talking about.

A few years later, I was working in the office for a desk shift in the sports department. Afterward, some of us went out for a couple beers. Later, we wound up at a colleague's place, mixing some weird concoctions of drinks. At about 4 a.m., I said I had to go. Me, with a wife and baby son at home, about 10 miles away.

I drove, by myself. By some miracle, I made it home alive. A couple days later, a co-worker laughed when he told me he had to pull between my car and a big rig truck on the freeway, to keep me from becoming the next statistic.

Suddenly, I didn't find it so funny.

These were isolated incidents. Most of the time, I made fairly smart decisions. But when I got in certain environments with certain people, I played the role I thought I was supposed to. And remember -- it only takes one bad move.

I probably would not have been one of those kids who shouted "Run!" on Thursday, but I might've been one who joined in the laughter.

I hope I have learned a few things since then.

I was going to address this primarily to the young people. Then I realized the adults need to hear it, too. The actions of the adults help shape the actions of their children and other youth around them. Then it's up to the youth to take responsibility for their own actions. And maybe if just one of those young people speaks out against the instigators, fewer of these incidents will happen.

After noting the reaction of the students on Thursday, I was curious to see their reaction as they sat in the stands of the Heritage High gym on Friday. First, a casket was rolled to the center of the gym, representing one of the students who had "died." Next, a video of the previous day's mock accident was played. Viewers followed injured victim Daniella Lopez to the hospital, where doctors worked on her in a real emergency room before pronouncing her dead.

Following that, members of the "deceased" spoke of their love for the departed. Some of them literally were in tears, realizing what the impact of an actual incident would've been.

A prosecutor for the District Attorney's Office spoke about the serious consequences DUI suspects face. At the end of the video, a judge sentences the arrested student to 12 years in state prison for the deaths of Gilbert Hernandez and Daniella Lopez. Barbara Knopik, whose son died in an accident caused by another's drunk driving, gave an emotional talk.

In the audience, there were a few giggles and kids with their eyes riveted on their phone instead of the podium. But for the most part, there were eyes fixed in stunned silence, some wiping away tears.

You can make a difference. You don't have to go along with the crowd, have that beer, climb into that car in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don't learn things the hard way. As Knopik told the students on Friday, "Don't die."

We can't always control our destiny. You could step off the curb tomorrow and be run over by a bus. But there are certain things you can control. Drinking and driving, or riding with someone who has been drinking, is one.

Let's get serious about this. Now.

Our thanks to the California Highway Patrol and other emergency response agencies, as well as the staff and students of Heritage High School, for their participation in this program. Here is the video they produced of Thursday's mock accident. Please watch it.