A crumpled car lay flipped over on top of another car, banged up and splattered with streaks of blood.
EMS and firefighters cut open the one car to extract a teen and strap him to a stretcher for a ride to the hospital on the MedEvac helicopter that landed nearby.
Another was wheeled out on a stretcher and taken to the hospital by ambulance.
One teen lay motionless on the ground next to the flipped over car, a white sheet placed over top.
Meanwhile, State Police Trooper David Boehm asked the driver to walk the line; she failed the sobriety field test and was handcuffed.
This was the scene Brandywine Heights High School students watched unfold as part of SADD’s Safe Prom event on May 11, several days before their prom on May 14.
SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) hosted an educational day about making smart choices. In addition to the mock DUI crash staged in the school parking lot, there was a school club sponsored carnival, where all proceeds will be donated to a local food bank. Students also attended presentations by the Attorney General’s office, a former drug addict, and the Caron Foundation.
“A lot of things happen during prom and prom night and we just wanted to punch that home a couple days before they start going out and having a good time,” said SADD advisor Mike Kistler. “Maybe something that was said today sits back in their mind, ‘Maybe this isn’t a smart idea.’ Hopefully everyone is safe and enjoys their time at the prom.”
Felicia Cressinger, 25, Berwick, talked about how her drug use began at age 13 with marijuana and progressed to heroin and meth. At age 23, with her 3-year-old daughter at home with her, she was arrested during a drug raid. When she was arrested there were six bottles of meth in the dumpster outside her home.
“I didn’t care anymore. I wanted to go to jail or die. I wanted to stop,” Cressinger told students.
Jonathan Duecker, Chief of Staff, Office of Attorney General, was there during her arrest.
“Being in a house during a drug raid, like Felicia was, is not like what they see on TV,” said Duecker. “It’s a pretty brutal, pretty violent 60 seconds or so… when she got arrested that day, she’ll remember it forever. Her daughter probably will too even though she was only 3 at the time.”
Among their questions, students wanted to know what it was like to overdose.
“When you see a fatal overdose, you don’t forget it,” said Duecker.
“I’ve overdosed myself, and was left for dead,” said Cressinger. “I don’t remember anything. The first time I ODed was on one bag. I remember my eyes rolling back in my head and getting thrown into the shower. Luckily, I woke up.”
“Heroin users want to get as close to overdosing as they can,” said Duecker. “Most of the fatal overdoses are at the end of a whole bunch of non-fatals.”
Cressinger wanted to tell the students what she did wrong.
“So they’re aware of the effects, the way it ruined my life and that you can get help,” said Cressinger. “I hope it keeps them out of the line that I was in for my life path. I hope that if they have problems that they ask somebody about it. I didn’t. I didn’t want to share it with anybody. I hid it.”
Cressinger has been speaking about her experience for the past two and a half years.
“I think it helps me stay clean.”
Kistler said SADD students heard Cressinger speak twice at the SADD state conference and invited her to speak at their school.
“We brought her in because we thought her story was so powerful,” said Kistler. “We’re trying to do a better job of educating our students. You can never do too much education when it comes to drugs and alcohol. Preventing as many kids using drugs and alcohol irresponsibly so that’s really our goal and mission from SADD.”
SADD also invited Meg Herman, student assistance program specialist who works with Caron Foundation treatment centers. She talked about making wise choices and drug facts, making students aware of the dangers of drug use and alcohol abuse.
“I would like to get them to think before they act. So many kids are full of impulses at this moment in their lives and I would like them to realize that they have the opportunity to say no,” said Herman. “I think the more information they have… the better the message is for them. They need to realize it’s dangerous and not natural and not something that should be in their bodies.”
SADD seniors Carla Dixon, Olivia Schmeck and Madison Deeds hope the day’s presentations and events spread awareness to how dangerous drugs can be.
“It’s so prevalent in our school and community,” said Schmeck. “It’s the people we grew up with and our siblings’ friends. It’s kind of surreal when you hear somebody’s in jail or passed away. It hits kind of close to home because it’s people we grew up with.”
“I hope it prevents future overdoses in our school and opens up kids eyes of what could possibly happen to them and to their friends and family and just make it a better community,” said Deeds.
Dixon said her favorite part of the day were the speakers.
“Growing up here I’ve always heard stories about people overdosing or going to jail… it’s a small town so everyone knows everyone,” said Dixon, who liked the presentation by Cressinger. “Hearing her story definitely opened my eyes and hopefully everyone else’s so we can prevent drug deals, overdoses, people going to jail or passing away.”
“We’ve had some issues in our school and to have that awareness, to have that education piece of it, to hear it from a user and her life story… very impactful message,” said Superintendent Andrew Potteiger. “It’s something our students needed to hear.”
