A Driving Disaster

Savannah Clair, Writer

To bring awareness to the consequences of drinking and driving or distracted driving, juniors and seniors were invited to attend the biennial before prom docudrama Friday, April 6.

When the students walked out in front of the school they found five of their friends in an accident. Senior Elijah Biggers was found through the windshield of the first car with senior Kelly Lyons pleading for help in the back seat and careless driver senior Parker Rader looking dazed and confused in the driver’s seat. Junior Richard Bertoldie was found thrown out of the opposing car injured and moaning in pain. His “wife” August Thoms was found lying on the dash of the car critically injured. The firetrucks came blasting through the parking lot to the scene of the crime. Once they came to a stop, firemen, which included multiple volunteer firemen from the student body, jumped out of the trucks and went into action.

They pried open the car doors to get the surviving victims out of the cars. A helicopter flew in and took Thoms to the hospital while the other victims were just transferred via ambulance. Biggers was pronounced dead at the scene and then later confirmed dead by the coroner. Rader was questioned by police and eventually arrested.

After the accident the students were moved to the auditorium where a casket was set up. Marshfield Alumni Jack McCracken spoke about his accident last year on his way to prom followed by his mother Christine Bommarito telling her side of the story, Officer Pence spoke about crashes that careless drivers caused and lastly the prosecuting attorney Ben Berkstresser warned the students what they would be charged with if they had caused the accident that they witnessed outside.

A lot of time and effort went into this event and it was all definitely worth it.