CHAMOIS — For about an hour last Wednesday, the Chamois City Park was overtaken by a host of emergency vehicles, including the Osage County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO), Chamois Fire, and Osage Ambulance District (OAD), all converging for a mock crash docudrama to highlight the dangers of drunk driving.

What separated this one from others the school has done is that Chamois students saw two classmates lifeless and several injured after two drunk teen drivers collided head-on.

Organizer Meghan Birmingham noted the students helped shape the presentation, including the decision to have two fatalities. “They said it would be way more impactful to see two of our friends who would have died in the car accident versus just one,” she explained, adding the presentation promoted prevention. “It’s extremely satisfying to be able to get this and see my kids see it and see what can happen. I don’t want to see any of my students on the side of the road anywhere.”

Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) Marketing Communications Manager Caitlin Jones, a veteran of the program, told students before the presentation that while the presentation was not real, the consequences of these actions are real. “These first responders have to deal with this on a daily basis,” she added. “This is the kind of stuff that they are faced with, and they should not be responsible for the emotional damage of coming onto an accident and finding teenagers like yourself dead.”

Jones added that everyone involved wanted students to make good decisions. “We want you to think about this,” she said. “The next time you’re in this kind of situation, we want you to you decide you’re not going to get in the car.”

Her message set the tone for the full-scale docudrama crash simulation, a program rooted in personal loss that has grown into a statewide effort designed to make consequences real before they happen.

“We don’t call them accidents, because this was a choice,” said Jones. “We say they’re mock crashes, because you made the choice in this scenario to drink and drive. That was your choice, and this is a consequence of your choice.”

FINDING THE ACCIDENT

As the docudrama unfolded, students quickly moved from observation to emotional investment.

Savanah Sieg, who placed the 911 call, said she didn’t expect her reaction. “I wasn’t expecting to actually be good,” she said. “I thought I was going to be giggling, but when I saw Brooklyn, since she’s one of my best friends, it felt more real than it was. Even though it was fake, it felt really real to me. I was also really nervous to call 911, because that just feels illegal. I was shaking. I saw my best friend dead, and I just really started bawling.”

Fellow student Raigen Cramer said she followed that reaction. “I would definitely say I followed her lead, because I was not as emotional as she was,” she said, noting she tapped into the moment. “Once I saw her get emotional, it was a lot easier for me to build off of it. I would not have been able to be that emotional by myself, so I’m thankful I had her with me.”

Students portraying the impaired drivers described a different kind of pressure.

Victor Slack and Grayson Gerloff, who were cast as the drunk drivers, agreed that their selection was intentional.

“It’s more based on our parents’ profession,” said Slack. “They figured that we would know better.”

Gerloff pointed to his background. “My mom was a nurse practitioner in emergency medicine, and my dad was a volunteer on the Chamois Fire Department,” he said. “My grandpa was an EMT.”

Gerloff was vocal in his role, explaining to everyone that it wasn’t his fault, while Slack defended himself, at times coming to blows over the horrible scenario. “It was weird to be guilty but tell everyone I’m not,” said Gerloff.

Other students, meanwhile, helped the wounded the best they could, applying pressure and moving them away from the vehicles, which were provided by 4-J’s Towing.

Kayla Wigglesworth, Kaleb Wolfe, and Kaden Wuelling had relatively minor injuries, but Nora Wideman was seriously hurt and could not be moved.

Wolfe, who suffered a leg injury in the mock crash, said the experience left an impression. “With the way people were acting, especially when they opened up the cars, it made it seem a little bit more realistic,” he said. “I just took constant deep breaths. This isn’t real. This is just a mock.”

Witness Evert Mehmert added, “One thing I learned is to always wear a seatbelt, no matter where you’re sitting.”

Wuelling, who suffered an injury to his arm, shared what he picked up. “The lesson is just because you didn’t drink doesn’t mean you won’t get injured by also being in that car,” he said.

THE CAVALRY ARRIVES

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the Chamois Fire Department to arrive on the scene, led by Chief Sean Hackmann, who served as incident commander.

“This scene was calm; a real scene like this is chaos,” he told students after the presentation concluded. “Moms and dads are showing up, and their children are dead because they got behind the wheel, drinking. It’s not a calm situation. This was controlled. A real one is certainly worse. We love every one of you. We treasure your lives as our own. We also treasure all these wonderful people behind us, who take away from their lives to come out and take care of you guys when somebody does something very stupid like drinking and driving. That’s the only reason this happened, and we want to make sure that doesn’t happen, so we do everything to keep you guys safe on a regular basis.”

Hackmann said his department has 28 firefighters, two of whom are certified EMTs, and 13 were on hand for the mock crash. “That’s a good response for people going to work,” he added, noting that several in the department were certified first responders after a course administered by OAD. “This kind of situation is extreme, obviously, but it’s not that far off the mark.”

Hackmann noted that one of the vehicles used in the simulation had been involved in a crash the night before involving three teens. They crashed into a ditch, but everyone walked away, which Hackmann said was the best outcome he could have anticipated.

As firefighters secured the scene and tended to the wounded, an OAD truck arrived on the scene, followed closely by Osage County deputies.

In a real-life emergency like this, however, it would take law enforcement longer to arrive. “To get the kind of manpower that you have right now in real life could potentially be upwards of 45 minutes,” said Maj.  Travis Shaffer.

Lt. Jonathan Powell added that the department would do everything within its legal ability to get to a scene as quickly as possible.

“Geography is a reality here in Osage County,” said Shaffer. “Getting resources from the center of the county to Chamois is more challenging because everybody can be in different places.

Still, that gap is where others step in to handle the situation. “That really means you have one or two people trying to handle the job of what you saw right now,” Shaffer said. “It forces whoever gets there first to wear more than one hat. Ultimately, something’s going to be affected, whether that’s patient care, scene security, or the timely processing of someone who may be under the influence of narcotics or alcohol. So, it extends the time before we are on the scene. Mutual aid is a good option, whether it be the Highway Patrol, Gasconade County, or the Department of Conservation coming down this way, but we don’t always know where they’re at.”

In this case, Slack and Gerloff were detained, given field sobriety tests, and held in the back of a cruiser.

Slack noted, “I feel like it would have been a tough situation.”

Gerloff leaned into the role, portraying a belligerent drunk who stopped just shy of resisting arrest.

Another factor that could be dangerous is where accidents happen in rural areas. “One of the biggest challenges that seems to be out in this way is the roads because a lot of times you have accidents around blind corners, and traffic control is a huge issue,” said Shaffer. “We rely heavily on the fire agencies to help us with that, or sometimes, we even give civilians a vest and ask them to help because you have to choose between traffic control and rendering life-saving aid.”

Excellent training and interagency communication and cooperation play a vital role in the success of such responses. “This is great training for all of us,” said Shaffer. “The training we’ve done across the board with all the fire agencies has been extremely phenomenal. We have a really good relationship with the folks at Chamois, and it helps to have Chief Hackmann and Scott Merz cross-train with us on boat rescues. We have a trust, because I know they’re not afraid to go outside the role of fire to keep everything in place until law enforcement arrives. It’s phenomenal to have that trust with them.”

EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD

While Sieg and Cramer attempted to handle themselves in the face of this dark simulated reality, the most impactful portrayal came from Dawna Keilholz, whose involvement began casually.

“Last week, Brie sent me a text saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to die in a car crash again,’ and she asked if I wanted to show up and be the hysterical parent again.”

This is the third time Dawna and Brie Keilholz have teamed up for a simulation. The first time was when Brie served as an accident victim in her eighth-grade year.

Last year, she was the victim of alcohol poisoning, and this year, she returned to the hood of a car.

Keilholz accepted the role without hesitation. “I figured I’m good at the hysterical parent part,” she said.

When the scene unfolded, the reaction was immediate.

“As soon as I got out of the car, the emotions were so high,” Dawna said. “The tears just came; I could feel my heart racing and everything. Nobody would tell me anything, and it was just like a real accident.”

She fell while rushing toward the scene and continued.

“I don’t know if I tripped over somebody or tripped over my own feet; I just went down,” said Keilholz, showing her scraped palms. “I didn’t think about it. I wanted students to get the raw emotion.”

Firefighters, medics, and eventually, deputies, had to work together to keep Keilholz away from her daughter, yet she continued to try. “I didn’t think about it,” she said. “I just wanted to be with my daughter, and I was very emotional about not only the fact that she was dead, but that I couldn’t even get close to her. That was a very difficult thing to process.”

RECONCILIATION WITH REALITY

Sieg had a similar experience of being held back from reaching her friend, which intensified the moment.

“I realize I can’t get to her, and I’m never going to see her again, and they’re pushing me away,” she said. “If she were dead and I can’t get to her, how am I supposed to say goodbye?”

Having friends portraying victims makes the entire scene more heart-wrenching. “When you actually experience it, it makes it more realistic, instead of fiction where you’re just like that could happen but not to me,” said Sieg. “When you see it in front of you, it’s closer than you think. It’s realer than you want to believe.”

“It was definitely hard, and it actually felt like she was gonna be going away, so it made me want to get to her,” Cramer added.

Brie, meanwhile, described the challenge of staying in character. “It was pretty hard,” she said. “I mean, I’ve done it before, so I knew what to do.”

Reminding herself not to react was tough. “I had to just act like I wasn’t breathing,” she said, with a nod to her fellow victim. “We’re dead. We’re lying there and can’t make a sound or move. It’s tough.”

Brooklyn Whited volunteered for the role of the other deceased victim, standing in for Emma Mehmert, whose mother was unable to attend. “We had plenty of injured students, so I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll be dead if you need me to. I’ll lie on a hood and be all bloodied up.’ I kind of just had to lie there, close my eyes, and pretend nothing was happening around me.”

When Sieg reached her, however, it was very challenging. “I had to pretend that I was sleeping,” Whited said.

Brie felt herself slipping off the backboard a little bit, and had to break character to alert the medics moving her from the car to the body bag.

During the process, Dawna all but collapsed with grief, but Sheriff Mike Bonham was there to catch her and provide what comfort he could, along with Chief Hackmann.

Unfortunately, Millard Funeral Home could not participate, but the body bags provided a very clear image of consequence.

HOW THE PROGRAM STARTED

Retired St. James teacher Maggie Roberts built the program from the ground up while still in the classroom.

“When I started doing them, I had no coaching,” said Roberts, who is part of the MRPC’s Docudrama Trainer for the Coalition for Roadway Safety. “I didn’t have anybody to reference. It was all me. I was lucky enough that I was in St. James, and I had some agencies that were great to help me. We all jumped in. We learned together.”

Roberts was inspired to develop the program because she lost a student she was close to and many since. “I’m from St. James, and there’s a black cloud that hangs over us,” she said. “We just lose far too many kids for whatever reason.”

Roberts refined the approach over time. “Each year, I kept trying to say, ‘Okay, I’ve done that. I can’t do that again, so let’s do this next program,” she explained. “Over four years, kids coming through saw something different each year. Every program, to me, hits kids differently.”

One of the challenges comes from schools that fear the impact of a simulation. “A lot of times they’re afraid to do a program if they’ve lost a student, which I understand,” said Roberts. “When we go into a school, though, the kids are phenomenal. They just respond; there’s no rehearsal, but they do a great job even when the emotion gets raw.”

Roberts measures success by the fact that former students are now teaching and requesting information on bringing the program to their district. “Even kids who weren’t involved in the program have reached out and said, ‘Hey, I want to do this in my hometown,’” she added.

In addition to outlining the scenarios, MRPC helps prepare the scene with moulage. Once a school handles all four scenarios, MRPC backs off and provides support. “We would work with the school for five years, giving them each scenario,” said Jones. “In the fifth year, we would step back and let them take over.”

Jones handles that task primarily and learned from a former MRPC employee.

The program expanded through the MRPC, with support from the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).

“When she was ready to retire, MRPC was like, we don’t want to lose this kind of program,” said Jones, noting the agency began searching for a safety grant to help present these mock crashes.

It didn’t take long for MoDOT to notice the program’s impact. “We were approached and said, ‘Hey, what if you took this statewide?’ That’s how we moved statewide.”

MoDOT Senior Highway Safety Program Manager and Teen Driving Coordinator Becky Foster said familiarity increases impact. She oversees MoDOT grants for programs that impact teens in some way. “I was very impressed with the simulation,” she said. “I also have a teenager, so I kind of understand from having a child around that age that seeing their peers go through something that they’re familiar with is more impactful to them than just seeing something on TV or some teenagers from a different school on a video go through it.”

MRPC covers eight counties in central Missouri, and other similar agencies have programs in place. MoDOT’s Central Region is where MRPC is best known, but the agency provides grant funding so the program can be shared across the state.

REFLECTIONS AND SOUND ADVICE

As students came to grips with the scene as it concluded, Sheriff Bonham offered his perspective.

“Since the coroner (AJ Probst) couldn’t be here, I would be the acting coroner,” he said. “Unfortunately, I’ve had to do this. I think the worst one I’ve ever been involved in was when five 18- to 19-year-olds ran off a bridge, and all five were killed. There’s nothing worse than me or one of our officers having to deliver a death notification to your parents. I wish I could make everybody go. It’s not feasible to go do a death notification and look a parent in the eye and tell them that their son or daughter is never coming home, because that definitely affects us. That’s the reason I try not to make our deputies do it. The coroner and the fire chief have done it in the past, but it is not something we ever want to do. We’d rather ride in a parade. That’s a lot more fun.

“But, when we go, we take it very seriously, and it doesn’t matter who they are: young people, old people,” Bonham continued. “It doesn’t make any difference. Life is life, and when we do an investigation of this type, it’s very serious. It’s hard not to get emotionally wrapped up in what we’re seeing and trying to comprehend and keep it separate because it can’t help but think about our own family, our own sons and daughters, and many of you — I know your parents — so I know the pain that is about to be inflicted.

“So, to see Dawna today, I just couldn’t even imagine what she was going through and the real pain,” Bonham added. “She did a great job. We worked well with first responders, the fire department, and EMS. We worked hand-in-hand, but they saw more things than they ever should have. And I can tell you that, through the years, I’ve seen a lot of death, and I know they have, too. I promise you, it is nothing that I would wish on you or your families.”

Principal Jeremy McKague said the mock crash is very helpful for students. “It not only shows them an important message about safety but also gives them a chance to see how our community works together,” he said. “The school, local firefighters, EMS, and the sheriff’s office take part, which makes it more realistic. It also gives those groups a chance to practice and train in a real-life type of situation. We also have several students who are junior firefighters, and this experience helps them bridge the gap toward becoming full-time firefighters and serving their community in the future.”

Birmingham praised her students, who embraced the emotional presentation from the start. She reiterated that her suggestion to use two victims was met with ready acceptance. “When we were talking about it, we thought that if it were to happen in this town, it would involve two kids,” she explained. “I talked with my students, and I said, ‘What do you guys think if we did two instead of one? How will that impact the kids?’ And they thought it would be way more impactful to see two of their friends who died in a car accident versus just one.”

Even the act of filming the exercise took an emotional toll. “At first, I was kind of scared because it’s so surreal,” said Carly Schollmeyer, who recorded for the yearbook. “I know this wasn’t real, but they were acting like it was real. So, then you get the full effect that this is scary. I don’t want to be in this situation.”

Dawna Keilholz’s message was direct. “Steer clear,” she said of drunk driving. “It’s a bad decision that’ll just get you in trouble. There are no benefits to it.”

Birmingham is already planning for next year’s presentation. “I think next year is possibly the Grim Reaper scenario,” she said. “We’ll have lots of kiddos with that one, and the kids like it.”

In this scenario, students are pulled from class every 15 minutes by the Grim Reaper, highlighting the statistic that shows someone dies from drunk driving every 15 minutes.

Those students are then transformed with moulage into a victim and sent back to class. “They have to sit in class like that, be completely quiet, like they’re gone,” said Birmingham. “The last time we did it, the student who played the Grim Reaper said it was really impactful on him because he wasn’t expecting to pull his friends every 15 minutes and be like, ‘I’m leading you to your death.’”

After the exercise, everyone convenes in the gym to talk about it. “In a school our size, that’s going to pretty much take all my kiddos,” said Birmingham. “The whole school would be wiped out.”