With prom season and graduation just around the corner, the
is reminding students that drinking and driving can be a deadly combination.
OPD and the Orlando Fire Department teamed up with the administration from Bishop Moore High School to present a mock DUI crash event to students to show them that the best night of their lives can easily turn into the worst.
Some of the demonstrations included a crash re-recreation, field sobriety test, using the jaws of life to rescue badly injured car crash victims, and a rescue and helicopter evacuation.
Guest speaker Bill DeMott lost his daughter, Keri, to a drunk driver in 2015. She was a junior at the University of Central Florida studying sociology with her whole life still ahead of her.
"Who can think of someone right now they love more than anything else in the world, please raise your hand," DeMott said to the students.
As the crowd raised their hands, DeMott pointed to the twisted and wrecked vehicle on display that reminds him of the day Keri was killed.
"When I close my eyes, I see this. Every day."
Melissa Walsh was 18-years-old when she got drunk and made the mistake of driving home. Her truck flipped five times near Clarcona Ocoee Road, ejecting her and her friend. Neither of them were wearing seatbelts.
"She ended up landing on her butt, breaking her tailbone. I ended up landing on my head, breaking my neck in five places."
In a coma for 10 days, Walsh woke up as a quadriplegic.
"My decision would now leave me paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of my life."
While high school students aren't even old enough to drink legally, alcohol is often very tempting when celebrating prom night and graduation.
According to
[ Caron.org ]
, one person is injured from an alcohol-related crash every minute. Car crashes are also the leading causing death for teens and one out of three of those involve alcohol.
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