Students at one North Texas high school were witness to a devastating crash this morning.
Not to worry -- it was all staged.
Every other year, as part of the school's "Shattered Dreams" program, students at Birdville High School stage a major crash to show the effects of driving while distracted or impaired.
"It's a very realistic crash scene with a storyline that the students have crafted," says Carissa Katekaru, spokeswoman for the North Richland Hills Police Department. "(It's) very powerful. It talks about the dangers of impaired or distracted driving."
At around 9:30 Thursday morning, the entire junior and senior classes at Birdville High School walked out to the parking lot and saw two vehicles that appeared to have crashed head-on into one another.
The cars had been involved in previous crashes and were donated by a local salvage yard.
Students studying to be firefighters at the Birdville Center of Technology and Advanced learning joined North Richland Hills firefighters in extricating students portraying victims from the wreckage.
"They actually put them in the ambulance, transport them to the hospital (and) take them into the emergency room," Katekaru says. "One student will actually be transported by air ambulance to the hospital."
Parents, all of whom were made aware of the event, were then notified that their child was involved in a devastating crash and were told which hospital they were taken to.
North Richland Hills police officers also arrested the student actor portraying the at-fault driver.
"The child actor that is arrested does get placed in the back of the police car," says Katekaru. "They make a phone call to the parents when the child gets to jail. The child goes into the juvenile booking area and is placed into a jail cell."
This year's event was coordinated by Jeremiah Jimenez, a junior at Birdville High School.
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"I definitely got a different perspective on things, especially from the parents side of things," says Jimnenez. "I, of course, am a teenager who thinks, let's go have fun doing the whatever this is. I got to see that perspective (and it) really opened my eyes on it."
Birdville High School has been putting on this exercise every other year since 2008.
"It's always a whirlwind of emotions," says Jason Wells, principal at Birdville High School. "You know teenagers, you never know how they're going to respond. But by in large, they do take it very serious, and it is impactful."
And, hopefully, it will get young drivers to pay extra attention when getting behind the wheel of a car.
"Our hope is that this is the only time they have to see a scene like this right here, under these circumstances," says Wells.
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