{"id":105681,"date":"2016-04-14T20:43:56","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T02:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-mock-crash-was-effective-students-say\/"},"modified":"2016-04-14T20:43:56","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T02:43:56","slug":"mancos-mock-crash-was-effective-students-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-mock-crash-was-effective-students-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos mock crash was effective, students say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><!-- gallery:6dfdd73e-c418-45dc-a3c6-8b664325e24b --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HOhx8Iy3750\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>On a still, quiet, sunny Thursday morning in Mancos, a crowd of emergency response officials converged on the high school campus.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado state troopers, along with the Mancos fire and marshal\u2019s department, Southwest Health EMS responders and Flight For Life crews staged a mock crash on Beech St.<\/p>\n<p>With the high school\u2019s prom coming this weekend, school officials wanted to stage the crash to raise students\u2019 awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.<\/p>\n<p>The team went all-out with the presentation as the student body watched. A Jeep with several students inside collided with a white sedan, flipping the sedan upside-down. One student in the sedan was killed, while firefighters pried another out of the car with the jaws of life. Two men from Ertel Funeral Home in Cortez pulled a hearse up to the crash site and hauled the body away.<\/p>\n<p>After the staged crash, students filed into the Performing Arts Center, where State Patrol troopers notified the deceased student\u2019s mother and sister. A mock memorial service was held for the student.<\/p>\n<p>CSP Sgt. James Saunders said prom season is unfortunately the busy season for state patrollers. They respond to crashes like this \u201call the time,\u201d where the driver was distracted or texting, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Saunders told students about the ripple effect that an event like this would have not only on the family members, friends and classmates of the victim, but also on those of the defendant. He asked students not to let a crash like this happen, and to make a promise that they would not drive while distracted or tired.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want you to remember the feeling of watching this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>High School Principal Adam Priestley told students that one decision could change everything. He said he had experienced a severe crash involving one of his friends when he was in high school.<\/p>\n<p>Mancos High School doesn\u2019t offer driver\u2019s education, so Priestley said he wanted to keep this in students minds so it doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI care for every one of you,\u201d he told students. \u201cThis would be the worst thing to happen for me as a principal. I want to see your smiling faces come through the door every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sophomore Cameron Fury said the presentation was effective. He said he would tell someone to stop if they were driving distracted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt opens your eyes to see what could happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Sophomore Ashley Cole played the part of the deceased crash victim. She said it was different and strange, but she was glad the school put on the presentation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope people realize what they\u2019re doing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want this to be in peoples\u2019 hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eighth-grader Breccen Morelli said since Mancos is a small town and people know each other, a crash like the one staged Thursday would effect the town in a big way.<\/p>\n<p>Sophomore Kalem Hargraves also said the presentation was meaningful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was deep and personal,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody wants to lose a loved one.\u201d Following the ceremony, Saunders said the presentation was one of the best mock crashes he\u2019s put on with the state patrol.<\/p>\n<p>All the agencies and responders involved collaborated well, and the timing was perfect, he said. Kids seemed to be affected by the event, he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny time there\u2019s silence with kids there\u2019s something going on,\u201d Saunders said. \u201cThere were lots of somber faces, and some kids were in tears. It was well worth the effort.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>awareness for prom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[83,316],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-105681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-mancos","tag-video"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105681"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=105681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}