Two cars. Twisted metal. Broken glass. Blood everywhere.
A sobbing, confused girl calls the police. Her friend isn't moving. A boy stumbles out of his car. His friend is on the hood. The scream of sirens mix with the tears of teenagers mourning their dead friends. The boy, a junior, is arrested for drunkenly killing two of his friends while driving.
That story may have been complete fiction, dreamed up by Wauwatosa East police resource officer Martin Keck and an army of volunteers, but as students learned, the cautionary tale was all too possible.
It was too possible for their principal, Nick Hughes, who shared that his brother was killed as a result of a drunken driving collision in 1986. It was too possible for Longfellow police resource officer Tracy Burbach, who had three teenagers from a school she worked at die from a drunken driving crash in 2003. It was too possible for Tom Kral, a 2001 graduate of Wauwatosa East who killed a man while driving drunk.
Not invincible
The stories, the mock crash and more were part of Keck's Every 48 Minutes program, devised to raise awareness about drunken driving.
The program involved students acting out a mock car accident and the actions leading up to it for a video and live demonstration for their classmates.
The mock crash, held May 16, saw students play out the immediate aftermath of a drunken driving crash, and Wauwatosa police, firefighters and medical examiners came to play their parts, too.
Firefighters used the Jaws of Life to cut open a car, donated by Dennis' towing, to get one student out. Police performed field sobriety tests on the "drunken driver." Flight for Life even made an appearance, flying a "wounded" student away in a helicopter.
Keck said: "Kids at this age think they're invincible. They think nothing can harm them. These things can and do happen to people their age. Any teenager needs to not only hear this but take it seriously. We wanted to make it as dramatic and emotional as possible so they do take it seriously."
The walking dead
The lesson didn't stop at the dramatic crash scene. Every 48 minutes after that, the school designated a student to be "killed" by a drunken driver. Keck's research showed that every 48 minutes a person is killed by drunken driving.
Those singled out to be victims were given a yellow shirt that displayed their time of death, a red X was painted on their face and they were told not to communicate with anyone. When they "died," Hughes read an obituary written by their parents over the school's PA system. The mass of students were called the walking dead, and stood silently at the beginning of an assembly.
Actions and consequences
The six students, all juniors, who participated in the crash, were chosen by guidance counselors who thought they would have the biggest impact on the student body. Some were involved in plays, others in sports. After the crash, they were taken to the Crowne Plaza and cut off from all contact with their friends. They couldn't update their Facebook, call or text until the next day at an assembly.
Before the crash, they were filmed at Froedtert Hospital, the Wauwatosa police station and their parents houses. One group acted out a party scene while the others acted out a study session scene. One of the partyers, Sammie Osinski, was tasked with putting peer pressure on the driver.
"The video was supposed to be played out so Nick (Pridgeon) knew he was making a bad choice, but he kept getting deeper and deeper into the problem," she said.
After the video was shown, Kral and Hughes shared their stories. Hughes, an admittedly private person, had to prepare his son for what he was about to share with the student body.
"I told my son on the way to school what I was going to be talking about because he didn't know the complete details," he said. "He is 17 and this happened in 1986. I wanted to make sure he understood. It was hard watching the video, hearing those things and in my head going through those instances and the timeframe for what it was for me."
After the assembly, Keck challenged the student body to sign a pledge card stating they wouldn't drink and drive. More than 500 students signed.
Work behind the scenes
The entire project cost the school nothing. The event was masterminded by Keck, but an army of volunteers turned his idea into reality.
Keck got the idea from an SRO training class he took last summer. A company called Every 15 Minutes did a presentation at his training that piqued his interest. The company performed events nearly exactly like the mock crash at East. Wanting them to come, he called but never heard back.
Still determined to bring the program to the school, Keck decided to do it himself. He started work last November, calling businesses and asking teachers for help. Each way he turned he got a positive response.
Dave & Buster's supplied games for the "crash" students on their days off. The Crowne Plaza gave them free room and board. Student groups donated money for the shirts the walking dead wore. The Police and Fire departments donated their time. Froedtert allowed filming in their trauma room. The video was shot by Milwaukee Area Technical College television producer Kevin Pulz.
Although the school and Mayor Kathy Ehley wanted to recognize Keck for his work in organizing the event by presenting him with an award on stage and declaring May 17 Martin Keck day in Wauwatosa, he turned them down. He quietly received the award backstage, saying the event wasn't about recognition.
He added: "My wife was very patient with me, and we have a 9-month-old boy, and she took over and was patient with me through the whole process and understood that there was a lot of time and dedication put into this to make it work. That made my stress level a little easier."