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Peabody firefighters use the jaws of life and other tools to free passengers during a mock car crash highlighting the dangers of driving drunk at Bishop Fenwick on Tuesday. (Spenser Hasak) Purchase this photo

Mock crash sends strong message to students

Erin Hickey

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PEABODY — Students at Bishop Fenwick High School participated in a mock car crash presentation on Tuesday, designed to teach young people about the dangers and consequences of impaired driving.

The presentation was given to approximately 200 students in the junior and senior classes of Peabody Veterans Memorial High School ahead of prom season. Bishop Fenwick Principal Chris Canniff said the program’s message is intended to help students think carefully about the choices they make.

“The message is: Just make good decisions when you’re out having fun,” Canniff said. “Students obviously like driving around with their friends, and they go out to have a good time … prom season comes, summer is coming … if they’ve already made a bad decision for the night, a good decision has to be the next one they make.”

The mock crash presentation is given to upperclassmen at Bishop Fenwick every other year, so all students get the experience. Canniff said that the weight of the subject matter made an impression on students who attended the assembly two years ago.

“All the feedback that we got from students who saw it two years ago was that it was impactful,” he said.

Representatives from the Peabody Police Department, Fire Department, and the Cataldo Ambulance company participated in the simulation, with Lt. James Harkins speaking to the students in the auditorium before the performance.

“This year’s presentation was designed to teach you the consequences and the ramifications of the decisions you guys make,” Harkins said.

Harkins’ presentation included news videos and articles about incidents of Massachusetts teenagers who had been killed by drivers operating under the influence, some of whom had been teenagers themselves.

Throughout the presentation, Harkins focused not only on those who had lost their lives, showing an interview with the mother of 13-year-old Savanah Gatchell of Marblehead, but also the consequences that the drivers faced.

“You guys are all 16-18 years old,” Harkins said. “Imagine taking the next 10 years of your life and putting it in a jail cell. How good is the rest of your life gonna be?”

Harkins was careful to mention that impaired driving doesn’t just mean operating under the influence of recreational drugs or alcohol. He warned students to pay attention to the labels on their prescription medication, and of the dangers of distracted driving.

At the end of Harkins’ talk, he played a pre-recorded video from the Bishop Fenwick Theater Program, showing a group of intoxicated student actors leaving a party followed by a loud crash. Participants then walked out to the parking lot where a comprehensive car crash scene was laid out.

Bishop Fenwick senior Stephen Colwell played the driver, and fellow senior Lucia Carleo played the passenger sprawled out across the hood of the car. As the students filed out of the auditorium, two police cruisers, a firetruck, and two ambulances pulled up to the scene with their lights and sirens blaring.

Peabody Fire Department Capt. Russell Lewis narrated the scene to the onlookers, walking the students through the process as police officers administered a field sobriety test and firefighters used the jaws of life to free injured passengers from the second car.

The simulation was somber and emotional, with EMTs placing a white sheet over Carleo’s body and firefighters loading her into a real hearse driven by representatives from the Conway Cahill-Brodeaur funeral home.

Following the simulation, students walked back to the auditorium, where another video showed Colwell arriving at the police station for booking. The scene took students through the procedure of being searched and fingerprinted, and a breathalyzer test at the station which recorded the teenager’s blood alcohol levels over the legal limit.

Harkins took a moment to appreciate the acting following the scene, referencing Colwell’s emotional reaction to learning that his friend had been killed in the accident.

“That is exactly how somebody your age is going to react if they find out they just killed their best friend,” he said.

By the end of the program, the spectacle had given way to a quieter takeaway. For students preparing for a season of celebrations and late nights, the exercise underscored how quickly a routine decision can turn irreversible, and how the consequences extend well beyond those directly involved.

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