LOWER LAKE — The entire student body at Carl? High School in Lower Lake heard horrific consequences Friday associated with drinking and driving. Team DUI drove its message home with real-life experiences shared by those directly affected by an intoxicated driver.
“Second Chance,” a student-produced video depicting a night of teenage socializing that ends in a fatal DUI vehicle collision, began the presentation. The video illustrated all the chaos, grief, pain and regret that can adversely affect all those connected to one person”s poor choice.
Following the video, students and guests gathered in the quad area where they heard first-hand accounts from those whose lives have been directly affected by drinking and driving. Clear Lake area Highway Patrol Information Officer Steven Tanguay briefly introduced himself and the purpose for the group”s visit. “We”ve all seen those little red cups in the video. We can”t stop that; we know that is going to happen,” Tanguay said. “But we”re going to get you to think about that. If you”re going to a party, we want you to ask ?how am I going to get home?””
As Tanguay introduced the speakers, he told the students that the stories about to be shared could be them, their brothers or sisters, parents or grandparents. An attentive audience listened as an emotional mother shared details of a DUI event that nearly took her son. Pam Inman, who is the wife of a firefighter familiar with emergency response procedures, recalled the most frightening event of her life ? the ordeal caused by a drunk driver who hit the vehicle her husband and then 10-year-old son were in. She described the phone call she received, “The cry that I heard was the worst sound I heard in my life. It was my 10-year-old son screaming,” she said. “The worst thing is to have your baby crying for you and not be able to get to him.”
Inman said the truck her family was in was old and equipped only with lap belts. She said her son came out of his lap belt when the truck flipped over. She said when the truck came to rest it was on her son”s head. She said recent rains had made the ground soft, which was the only thing that prevented the truck from crushing her son”s head.
“I don”t ever want your parents to get that phone call,” Inman said. “Make the right choices.”
Lake County Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Willie Sapeta shared with the students his perspective as a first responder. “We have some horrific, dynamic calls,” he said. “Are we going to stop you from drinking? No. But, we can make you stop and think about getting behind the wheel or into a car of someone who has been drinking. Hopefully, after today you”ll make wiser decisions.”
Sapeta began with recognition of a DUI collision that happened 22 years ago to Friday”s date. The incident resulted in the loss of three prominent Lower Lake High School students; the driver, who was also a prominent LLHS student, survived the crash. Sapeta said the survivor was left to deal with the consequences for the rest of his life.
Sapeta also spoke of a DUI crash that happened 30 years ago in which two van loads of Boy Scouts were struck by a DUI driver on Highway 29 near Middletown. “I can still visualize the accident scene,” he said. “The decision (the DUI driver) made killed six kids and two adults. It was his third DUI.”
Born from like concerns, Team DUI consists of a panel of local first responders, political, governmental and law enforcement leaders as well as victims of DUI-related collisions. A shared desire to reduce the injury and fatality rates attributed to driving under the influence unites this group in the good fight against drinking and driving.
Team DUI”s next presentation is scheduled for 1 p.m. Jan. 29 at East Lake Elementary School in Clearlake Oaks.
Contact South County reporter Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
