Mock collision scene staged at LRHS - Students learn vehicle safety, consequences of distracted driving

Lind-Ritzville High School students and staff members watched as law enforcement and first responders responded to a staged two-vehicle collision near Lind-Ritzville High School on Eighth Avenue and Chelan Street on Sept. 25.

In the scenario, the driver of a van failed to stop at a stop sign and hit a Honda, causing it to roll onto its top. There was one fatality and four injuries.

The collision was staged as a mock crash, coordinated by the Ritzville Police Department and Lind-Ritzville Cooperative Schools, and none of the students were actually hurt.

The mock crash served as an educational opportunity for students on the dangers of distracted driving, or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

After the emergency tones went out to responders, Ritzville Police Department officers arrived at the scene and were joined by an Adams County Sheriff’s Office sergeant and Washington State Patrol trooper.

The Ritzville Fire Department and Ritzville EMS then arrived to the scene. Firefighters used the hydraulic rescue tools to remove the injured passengers from the Honda, Morgan Lane and Austin Hall, and transported them to an ambulance.

The passenger from the van, Sophia Smart was also taken to an ambulance while the vehicle’s driver, Jeffrey Staley, who also cut out of the van by firefighters, was handcuffed and removed from the scene.

The student who was killed in the vehicle was covered until the medical examiner arrived and placed her in the coroner’s van.

Mickayla Hall was the deceased passenger in the Honda and has participated in previous mock crashes. Hall said this type of scenario helps her classmates learn how to be safe while they are driving a vehicle, as well as understand consequences of drinking while driving.

Ritzville Police Chief Dave McCormick said the mock crash was very realistic.

He hopes it impacted students, as well as showed them the dangers of texting and driving.

“We also left marks on the street to remind students about what happened today,” McCormick said. After the scene was over, Sergeant Mark Cameron used orange spray paint to mark the spots where the vehicles were during the scene.

Taelor Umland and Alibama Rushing were two of the many students who watched the scene.

Although they knew the scenario was a mock scene, they were both sad because it involved classmates they knew and the scenario could be real. The scene taught Umland and Rushing to pay attention to stop signs while they are driving and to not operate a vehicle while distracted.

After the mock crash, students went to Gilson Gym where they listened to a presentation from Grant County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Josh Sainsbury, who supervises his agency’s motor traffic unit.

Sainsbury told students the mock crash was as close to realistic at it could get for them. He said one of his duties as an officer is to notify relatives about the death of their loved ones after a crash, which for him is the worst part of his job.

Sainsbury also gave examples of crashes he investigated during his years as an officer, many of them resulting from DUI, cellphone use, distracted driving and not wearing their seatbelts.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been to a crash that wasn’t preventable,” Sainsbury said.

Sainsbury encouraged students to follow the speed limit and traffic laws, and to help their friends if they notice them driving recklessly. If a student is involved in an accident, Sainsbury said to report it as soon as they can, and to never leave the scene of a collision.

LRHS Principal Ronanda Liberty said she and the staff were grateful for the agencies and Donna Koch who brought the mock crash scene together, and for the wise words Sainsbury provided during his presentation.

“Students all process it in different ways, but the bottom line is that it had an impact on them, on all of us,” Liberty said. “The traumatic scene followed by a debrief together in the assembly caused us to stop and really think about it.”