Mock DUI crash drives home real life lessons

Editor’s note: The following events are part of “Operation Grad Night,” a mock DUI crash scene Tuesday at Sandpoint High School, attended by area seniors from Sandpoint, Clark Fork, Priest River, Lake Pend Oreille and Forrest M. Bird Charter high schools.

By MARY MALONE

Staff writer

SANDPOINT — The two vehicles became one as they slammed together, glass shattering and metal crunching under the impact.

The most horrifying sound, however, is the screams. As emergency crews arrived on scene, the teens inside the two cars cried for help — those who still could cry out, that is.

Four Sandpoint and Clark Fork high school seniors were in one of the cars, heading home from an evening at the movies. The night was going great until, all at once, it came to an end. As Curtis Hauck navigated his Mitsubishi Mirage around a blind corner on Sunnyside Road, the car full of teens car was struck head-on by a green Subaru Legacy.

The driver of the Legacy, Lake Pend Oreille High School senior Mason Deal, was drunk and doing 60 miles per hour on Sunnyside with three passengers in the car, including a classmate from LPO and two Priest River Lamanna High School seniors. Deal was supposed to be the group’s designated driver for the night, but had a few drinks anyway. While Deal suffered no life-threatening injuries, his classmate and front-seat passenger Jared Kluesner was not wearing a seatbelt, leading to his tragic death on impact as he was ejected from the car.

In the back seat of the Legacy, PRLHS seniors Max Bombino and Michael Jones were injured, ranging from Bombino’s broken humerus and concussion, to an open fracture of the femur and severe facial lacerations for Jones, who was also not wearing a seatbelt.

While the four in the Legacy were drunk, the group in the Mirage were not. Hauck’s backseat passengers, CFHS seniors Dakota West and Grace Shelton suffered severe injuries as well, which will ultimately affect their plans for the future.

Hauck’s girlfriend, SHS senior Jasmin Mearns, was in the front passenger seat. She is the one who made the 911 call as she watched her boyfriend begin to slip away. While Hauck was alive when emergency crews arrived, his injuries were so severe he died in transit to the hospital via Lifeflight.

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This was the scenario of the 18th annual “Operation Grad Night” mock DUI crash was held Tuesday in the Sandpoint High School parking lot. Eight teens volunteered to be the victims in an attempt to help educate, illustrate and prevent the dangers of drunken driving, aggressive and inattentive or distracted driving. The event is attended by seniors from Sandpoint, Clark Fork, Priest River, Lake Pend Oreille and Forrest M. Bird Charter high schools.

“Since this started, there have been zero fatalities or serious injury crashes on prom night or graduation night,” said Spencer Smith, school resource officer with the Sandpoint Police Department. “So that means it is working.”

Drinking and driving is a nationwide problem, as nearly 30 people in the United States are killed in DUI related crashes every day, said Idaho State Police Trooper Austin Rosedale. In 2017, he said, there were 10,874 deaths from DUI crashes across the country.

While Tuesday’s crash was not real, the powerful message it drives home to the graduating seniors is quite real.

“Hearing Jasmin scream my name ... seeing how it was affecting her and all the other kids in my car, it was terrifying,” Hauck said after the scenario had ended. “It is an experience I never want to do again, even if it is fake like this.”

Hauck’s mother, Jennifer Hauck, said when her son asked her to write his eulogy, it was very emotional for her.

“I just hope that none of you guys ever drink and drive,” she said. “Take it seriously and just don’t do it — you can always call somebody to come pick you up.”

Bombino’s mother, Nissa Bombino, told the Priest River teens that they can call her for a ride anytime. She recalled a time when she witnessed a crash similar to the mock scene that involved a group of students on their way home from prom. “Today was pretty crazy to watch, but seeing it in real life, in real time, is even worse,” Nissa Bombino said. “I just hope this all hits home for everyone.”

To illustrate how drinking and driving can affect people in real life, Makayla Sundquist, a 2014 SHS graduate, speaks to the students each year about the drunken driver who hit her head-on on the Long Bridge. Every year, the tears come to her eyes as she describes how the crash changed her life. She will never play soccer — her favorite sport — again, because her leg was crushed in the accident and is now secured by rods in her femur and tibia. Living with so much pain every day, Sundquist said there were times she contemplated ending her own life.

“Finally, four years later I am pain free, but mentally and emotionally this accident still haunts me,” Sundquist said. “I hear it, the sound of two cars crashing together. Sitting through this presentation is really difficult. It triggers a lot of emotions and a lot of memories.”

While Sundquist said she is lucky to have survived, a friend of hers, who stood with her through the worst of times, was not so lucky. He died in a DUI crash about a year ago, she said.

“He was a friend when I needed one the most, but because of someone’s choice to get behind the wheel, he is gone,” she said. “... Being a victim of an impaired driving crash adds insult to injury because these accidents are 100 percent avoidable. I am not standing up here to tell you how to live your life, but I am here to tell you that there is no excuse for drinking and driving.”

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.