On April 13, a fatal crash occurred in the parking lot of Fonda-Fultonville High School. The two car crash was the result of an intoxicated driver - and hours and hours of preparation.

The planning for the mock accident has been ongoing since January, with students coordinating the details of the crash as well as resources in the community.

Yurkewecz Auto Crushing donated the vehicles used for the event, and the Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management supplied the moulage, make-up and fake blood. As the event began, members of the junior and senior classes arrived as a state troopers asked, "You have just heard a noise, and came to see what it was. This, the two cars crashed and the people involved, is what you see. What happens next?”

"Call 911," a student responded.

Soon after the students heard a radio transmission dispatching the Greater Amsterdam Volunteer Ambulance Corp (GAVAC) to the scene. Upon GAVAC’s arrival, the crew was unable to gain access to the three occupants inside the vehicle. The ambulance crew determined that the driver was not injured, but that one of the passengers was injured and that the other was dead.

Soon the Town of Mohawk Fire department arrived to the scene, and used the “Jaws of Life” to cut open the car and remove it’s roof in order to gain access to the patients.

While all of this was going on, a state trooper arrived and started to investigate the crash, including interviewing the driver of the other vehicle.

The students watched as the injured passenger was treated and the driver freed from the car. The trooper interviewed the freed driver and observed an odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath, his slurred speech and staggered walk. The trooper had the driver do some field sobriety tests and concluded that the driver was intoxicated. The driver was arrested, handcuffed and placed a State Police car.

In the mean time, ambulance and fire department personal removed the injured passenger from the car, placed them on the stretcher, and begun transporting him to the hospital.

Then a hurst from Betz, Rossi, Bellinger and Stewart Funeral Homes arrived. Personal from the funeral home and fire department removed the deceased passenger from the vehicle and place him into a body bag. The deceased was loaded into the hurst and brought to the morgue.

"A very important lesson was delivered at our school today. Members of our junior and senior classes witnessed a scenario that we hope will never be played out in their lives. The images presented were powerful and it is evident that the student witnesses were affected," High School Principal David Ziskin said.

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