Copperas Cove Homes – Copperas Cove students shown dangers of driving drunk

A Copperas Cove firefighter/EMT puts a neck brace on Copperas Cove High School senior Shelby Campbell during Shattered Dreams, a fatal drunk driving accident scenario, Wednesday behind the school

 

 Copperas Cove police officers assess the situation as a “grim” reminder of the dangers of drunk driving lurks nearby during Shattered Dreams, a performance for Copperas Cove High School students Wednesday behind the school.

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By Mason W. Canales
Killeen Daily Herald

COPPERAS COVE — The Copperas Cove High School Pals kicked off its Shattered Dreams program Wednesday with a crash on Avenue D.

The group brought in two wrecked vehicles and staged a scene using Copperas Cove police, firefighters, an emergency helicopter and even Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home to respond to on the roadway leading to the school’s back parking lot.

Both the junior and senior class watched as fellow students lay in the streets, took sobriety tests and were loaded on to stretchers.

Shattered Dreams is a program that cautions students about driving while intoxicated.

According to the Texas Department of Transportation, there were 898 alcohol-related fatalities in the state during 2009 and 117 involved drivers under age 21.

The program continues today as students are taken from their classrooms by the Grim Reaper to represent people who will be killed in drunk driving incidents.

On Friday, the school is having a memorial for the students who were removed and those effected by the mock incident, including the student portraying the drunk driver.