The ghastly, sad aftermath of drunken driving was graphically portrayed Thursday when a simulated car accident was staged at Jim Thorpe High School.

The event was sponsored by Students Against Destructive Decisions, said Danielle Harris, a high school junior who was one of eight “bloodied” student victims.

It was one of two days of events SADD held at the school prior to prom night to alert students about the seriousness of drinking alcohol and driving.

Samantha Exner, a senior, was positioned as if she was thrown from a vehicle. On her head was a protruding piece of loose, bloodied skin. Her face was smeared red. She had other injuries including “rash burns” on both arms. She was pronounced “dead” by emergency responders.

Another victim was junior Daniel Ziolkiewicz. His “badly injured” body lay next to the car, as well as two other students who were partially thrown from the vehicle. He was placed on a litter and taken to a waiting MedEvac helicopter for transport where transport nurse Brian Mongrain explained to him that if he had the actual depicted injuries, they would probably have to insert a breathing tube into him, possibly even through his rib cage if a lung was collapsed.

Other student crash victims were Gabriella Cerra, Spencer Moore, Devon DeMarco and Ashley Trueman.

The “drunken driver” was senior Wyatt Berger, who had nasty cuts on his arm. Police administered a field sobriety test to Berger in front of the students, which he “failed.” He was led from the scene wearing wrist cuffs.

The event began with the placement by All Points Towing Service of two vehicles, one of them on its side, depicted as a T-bone accident. The student body gathered at the scene to view the staged turmoil.

Jim Thorpe police and three ambulances responded with sirens blaring. Also arriving on scene were the Onoko Fire Department and the Albrightsville Fire Company.

Next, a MedEvac helicopter from Lehigh Valley Hospital landed on the nearby Jim Thorpe High School baseball field.

Overseeing the scenario was faculty Tonia Thompson and Mary Vermillion, co-advisors to SADD.

Senior Patricia Buskirk was the commentator.

Thompson told the students, “Obviously this is just a re-creation. This is something to make you really think and make choices.”

It doesn’t have to be you behind the wheel” to have such a result, she said.

The scenario was more than just the positioning of bloodied accident victims.

Dawn Benner, a member of Lehighton Ambulance, was the response coordinator. She and Taylor Hunt, an EMS liaison with Lehigh Valley Hospital, applied detailed makeup to all the victims.

Police Chief Joseph Schatz, detective Lee Marzen and officer John Pruitte were first to arrive on the scene. Schatz went to Exner’s location and pronounced her “Class 5,” a dispatching term for deceased. He covered her broken body with a pink blanket, then proceed to evaluate other victims.

Ambulance personnel pulled litters from their vehicles and assessed the individuals.

When the firefighters arrived, they proceeded to buttress the vehicles. They also used tools to remove the roof of one vehicle to reach “victims” trapped inside.

At the conclusion of the exercise, all the students went to the helicopter where they conversed with the crew member

The first day of SADD activities was held Tuesday with various programs inside the high school.