Wednesday April 6 and Thursday April 7, the South O’Brien High School disrupted its class schedule at approximately 9:30 am by broadcasting over the PA a mock 911 call made by a student. Alyssa Van Beek reported a car accident. She was speaking with “a dispatcher” at O’Brien County who needed Alyssa to answer certain questions. Alyssa was excited, most likely in some stage of shock, and telling what happened. But Alyssa was not listening and providing the information the dispatcher needed to get help to the scene. It happens a lot and dispatchers are trained to work with callers suffering trauma.
The 911 callout to emergency services was also played over the school’s PA system. Students not part of the portrayal were provided with the learning experience to hear how a victim might, actually, often behaves in an emergency, and to hear how that 911 call gets help to where it’s needed. The accident was reported as being in the parking lot at South O’Brien School and the Paullina and Granville Ambulances and Paullina and Granville Fire Departments were called out. Paullina Police Department also responded, which is normal. Also arriving on the scene was a sheriff’s deputy.
The student body was dismissed from class and sent to the commons. Some observed outside, others through windows. Emergency vehicles came screaming lights and sirens into the parking lot. Each participating member is an actual member of his or her respective response unit. It took them several minutes to arrive. According the Sheriff Bruce Devereaux it was a rapid response compared to many real life incidents. Upon arrival, professionals began assessing the situation: how many vehicles? how many victims? What are their conditions? Responders almost immediately called for additional ambulance services. Sutherland and Primghar showed up. Iowa State Patrol showed up.
The south bus circle of the junior/senior high school was the site of this accident reenactment. Two vehicles were involved with the van on its top. The small pickup had a crushed front end and a busted windshield. The windshield damage came from the driver’s head when the two cars collided. The driver, Luke Klaassen was the only occupant in the pickup.
Addison Presthus was driving the van. She had 3 passengers with her, Jacob Van Lith, Alyssa and Sam Wilbur. The liquid spilled out from the engine area of the van appeared to be largely blood, but firefighters were quick to apply absorbent material to protect against it being a flammable material. The firefighters used jacks to stabilize the vehicle from moving as EMT’s waited so they could get into the vehicle to assess the physical condition of the occupants. Remember, at this time, the EMTs did not know who, how many or the mental state or physical condition of any of the victims. EMTs also checked on the driver of the pick up. So did law enforcement officers.
Once the EMTs made assessments of the victims inside the van one of the first things they did was place a sheet over one of those lying partially outside the vehicle. That occupant was deceased at the scene. A couple EMTs crawled inside the upside down vehicle stabilizing the other 2 victims. Neck braces, compression to bleeding wounds, maybe a splint of a broken bone were obvious and if there was time while waiting to be able to extricate. The fire units used “Jaws of life” on the van so that the 2 victims still alive could be maneuvered onto backboards and the gurney to be put into the ambulance and transported for further medical care. On this particular day, the helicopter could not fly due to high winds.
While the extrication of the 2 ?living? victims in the van was underway, law enforcement had done some minimal first aid to the pick up driver and then performed sobriety tests. (This was done for dramatic affect. Sobriety at an accident scene is determined differently in real life.) Alyssa, the caller who was not physically injured was taken by one ambulance for observation.
Eventually both victims were removed and transported. The O’Brien County coroner, Dr. Amy Badberg arrived and made official pronouncement of the third victim, Addison Presthus’ death. She was tagged and eventually removed from the vehicle with her body taken by the funeral home. Ben Eldridge confirmed that they do respond and accept the body of accident victims.
A hospital emergency room scene showed doctor’s trying to save Sam, but allowed the parents to speak final words to her. She then “died.” The tears of the parents, despite knowing this was a drama, were very real.
Wednesday afternoon was the court trial of Luke, driver of the pickup. He had been determined to be impaired. During the “trial” it was revealed that in addition to Addison’s death, Sam also “died.” Jacob would be permanently paralyzed, The 17-year-old was placed on trial for impaired driving, 2 counts of causing death or injury and another count of causing injury. Rachael Becker, O’Brien County Attorney actually “prosecuted” the case. Luke was “defended” by Attorney Tisha Halverson. The “presiding judge” was played by Assistant County Attorney Katie Morgan. Luke’s parents sat at the “defendant’s” table with him. Luke’s dad acknowledged that even though the event was not real, it was a very surreal feeling and you couldn’t help but genuinely feel a range of emotions like confusion, guilt and fear. Luke described his feelings from the reenactment as “weird.”
Throughout Wednesday different students were randomly taken from their classes. Their faces were painted white and returned to class. They were not allowed to talk to anyone the rest of the day. Prior arrangements had been made with parents. Each of those students stayed away from home that night. Those students were: Addison Presthus, Sam Wilbur, Josie Brown, Alyssa Harper, Danielle Waggoner, Karlee Warnke, Sydney Sickelka, Miranda Draper, Abby Jones, Dante Johnson, and Alex Sage.
On Thursday, the high school students observed the “funeral” of the two students who died in the accident. Eulogies for the ?deceased? students were given by Pastor Cory Grimm and Pastor Mike Cooper. A parent who lost a child to a car accident spoke. Sheldon Police Officer Todd Woods’ words reinforced the overall message of the 2 days, “The Power of Choice.” The “ghosts” of the students removed from class the day before joined the convicted driver at the “funeral.” Addison’s mother and Sam’s father also spoke. The emotion was real. The hope that the observing students learned and internalized how dangerous impaired driving is to so many lives, directly and indirectly cannot be measured.
Every agency that helped with this reenactment did so completely voluntarily and without receiving any kind of cost reimbursement. Participating agencies included Ambulance services from Paullina, Primghar, Sutherland and Granville, Paullina Fire, Paullina Police Department, O’Brien County Sheriff, Iowa State Patrol, Northwest Iowa Community College and O’Brien County Emergency Management. The O’Brien County Attorney’s office and Tisha Halverson also contributed time to the effort.
Each agency benefits from cash donations and volunteers. Contact your local emergency services to learn more about how you can support emergency services where you live.