SHARE

Video: Bogota Teens Portray Drunk-Driving Victims

 BOGOTA, N.J.– One of the toughest parts of the job for Bogota Police Chief Daniel Maye is telling a family that a loved one died in a car crash.

The drill is designed to demonstrate and highlight the dangers of drinking and driving

Photo Credit: Anthony Locicero
Loading a patient into the Hackensack University Medical Center Medevac Northstar

Loading a patient into the Hackensack University Medical Center Medevac Northstar

Photo Credit: Anthony Locicero
Members of the Bogota Rescue Squad attempting to remove passengers from the vehicle

Members of the Bogota Rescue Squad attempting to remove passengers from the vehicle

Photo Credit: Anthony Locicero
Bogota OEM Coordinator Tito Jackson hoped the drill would deter students from drinking and driving

Bogota OEM Coordinator Tito Jackson hoped the drill would deter students from drinking and driving

Photo Credit: Anthony Locicero

One of the most important, he says, is demonstrating the dangers of drunk driving to high schoolers -- which he and the borough Office of Emergency Management did Friday with a DUI crash simulation at Fiegel Field.

First responders from Teaneck and Ridgefield Park joined their Bogota colleagues on Friday, as did the New Jersey State Police and an AirMed One chopper crew from Hackensack University Medical Center.

"This is a life-changing event,'" OEM Coordinator Tito Jackson said. "It has a great impact."

Nearly a dozen students portrayed victims of a deadly crash during the simulation.

"My students that were in the car couldn't believe how much went into it to get them out," Bogota High School counselor Tara Amanna said.

"You realize when people get into these accidents, not only are they killing the people in the car," said Maye, the police chief, who once "had to go tell a mother that her child wasn't coming home."

"It becomes personal to us," he said.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE

to follow Daily Voice Cliffside Park-Edgewater and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE