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"Shattered Lives" Event This Week, Despite New Mexico Budget Cut

Despite last year’s announcement that state funding was being cut to the Doña Ana County Teen Court program, “Shattered Lives”, the mock-DWI crash hosted annually at area high schools will continue for at least another year, this time at Santa Teresa High School (STHS).

The simulation will take place at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 27, where several Doña Ana County emergency crews and first responders will be called to the scene of a serious crash involving students.

Some will be pronounced dead on the scene; others will be critically injured. The simulation is one that has been recreated annually as a part of the “Shattered Lives” program of Doña Ana County.

THE PROGRAM

   This year’s program will involve 33 students from STHS, made possible through collaborative efforts of several local law enforcement agencies, including the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department, Las Cruces Police Department, New Mexico State Police, and the local sector of the U.S. Border Patrol.

   “Shattered Lives” was the brain child of Doña Ana County Teen Court and organizer Toni Hernandez, who oversaw the mammoth project for more than a decade. In 2016, Hernandez received a 30-day notice that all state funding was being cut to the Teen Court program – which essentially dissolved the guarantee that “Shattered Lives” would continue under the direction of Teen Court.

   “We still had the commitment from Doña Ana County,” said Hernandez. “But it wasn’t enough to keep the program going on such short notice.”

   Hernandez made the executive decision to try and salvage “Shattered Lives,” which reinforces the message to teens that drinking and driving carry serious consequences for the entire community.

   “At our first meeting, I asked every law-enforcement agency if they were willing to move forward upon hearing the news that Teen Court was no more, and the answer was a resounding, unanimous ‘yes’.”

   According to Hernandez, “Shattered Lives” has been a fixture at area high schools for more than 10 years, and every year she receives letters from students and parents thanking the program for potentially saving their child’s life.

    The program has been saved for now, said Hernandez, thanks in part to the Las Cruces Elks Lodge #1119 and grassroots fundraising efforts in an online campaign through GoFundMe.org (https://www.gofundme.com/shattered-lives-every-15-minutes)

THE CRASH

Events for the “Shattered Lives” program begin Thursday just before 10 a.m., when all students at STHS will be called out to witness the crash. The scene will be staged in front of the school on Airport Road in Santa Teresa.

Morning traffic will be temporarily interrupted. A portion of Airport Road will be blocked in front of the school until approximatelynoon.

   The crash will involve several vehicles, students who will be portrayed as victims, and one student who will be acting as the drunk driver. The driver, who is the cause of the crash in the exercise, will be given a series of field sobriety tests on the scene and will be placed under arrest.

   Emergency crews and first responders will arrive on the scene and will tend to the victims just as they would if it were an actual crash. Law enforcement agencies will share the responsibilities of controlling traffic, containing the crime scene, investigating the crash and coordinating medical services.

   At least one student will be airlifted to Memorial Medical Center, where the student’s parents will be called and notified on their child’s “death.”

THE DEATHS

   While the crash is being staged Thursday morning, several volunteers dressed as the Grim Reaper will visit various classrooms at the school, tapping the shoulders of students picked from a cross-section of the entire student body. The strategy is to ensure each population within the school is represented. A member of law enforcement will then enter the classroom and read an obituary prepared by the student’s loved ones.  

THE AFTERMATH

   Following Thursday’s mock crash, students will gather in the gymnasium at STHS on Friday to be reunited with their classmates who were chosen to exemplify the “Shattered Lives” message. 

Information from Dona Ana County