Parker Live News from the Parker Strip since 2009.
A ‘mock fatal’ demonstrated to Parker High School students Friday the risks of drunk driving and distracted driving, and urged that students not get into a vehicle with anyone who has been drinking.
The ‘accident’ was staged in front of the bleachers at Joe Bush Stadium for hundreds of Parker High School students who watched as real police, fire, ambulance and other responders came to the scene and performed their duties.
These agencies were responding as they would any real incident, using the demonstration as an exercise and a drill. Arizona Western College filmed the events for its TV channel.
Students played the roles of injured and deceased passengers.
From left to right: La Paz County Sheriff Bill Risen, Quartzsite Police Chief William Ponce and Parker Police Chief Clay Romo.
The subjects were taken to La Paz Regional Hospital, where they were treated exactly as any other incoming emergency patients.
“It’s targeted for high school students to make them aware of destructive driving,” said the Emergency Department’s Silvia McGuire. “It’s part of our emergency preparedness plan and mass casualty. In the unfortunate event that something like this happens, it helps prepare us for a real life disaster.”
Agencies involved included Parker Police, Colorado River Indian Tribes Police, La Paz County Sheriff, Native Air, Care Flight, River Medical, Buckskin Fire, Parker Fire, CRIT Fire, Parker Funeral Home and La Paz Regional Hospital.
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All photos by Parker Live.
They did this for us in 99 at Palo Verde High in Blythe and I can still see one of my classmates playing the partially ejected passenger hanging through the windshield. It’s powerful stuff when you SEE what can happen.
I grew up in the Coachella Valley and my dad was a nurse so every accident we came upon he stopped to help. I remember the lady who hit a telephone pole near the mall and shattered her elbow. She couldn’t feel it because she was drunk and kept flopping her arm around.
Bryan Justice