When students from all four grades at Salisbury High School left their classrooms to attend an outdoor assembly in the bus-drop-off area in front of their school, they were greeted with the site of a mock accident depicting terrible consequences.

The simulated reality of two serious injuries, a fatality and a fellow student arrested and hauled off in handcuffs after failing a field sobriety test, was meant to be that “ounce of prevention” members of the high school’s Students Against Destructive Decisions chapter and the Salisbury Police Department School Resource Officer Richard Nothstein, were attempting to convey on the dangers of drinking and driving as students approached their prom weekend.

SHS English teachers Carla and Joe Pacitti, portrayed a seriously injured and a deceased victim of the motor vehicle accident. Senior Marisol Rosario was a trapped and injured passenger in the car placed at the school for the scenario and Senior Daniel Bonge played the driver of the vehicle operating under the influence of alcohol.

First responders from the Salisbury Police Department and volunteers from Eastern and Western Salisbury fire departments found Carla and Joe Pacitti lying in the grass near the front of the vehicle. Police and medics found Carla Paciitti with “serious injuries,” Joe Pacitti unresponsive and Rosario “injured and trapped” in the rear passenger seat of the vehicle.

Salisbury Police Cpl. Budd Frankenfield found driver Daniel Bonge exhibiting behavior consistent with drunkenness. When Bonge “failed” a field sobriety test, he was arrested, handcuffed and placed in a police patrol vehicle.

Rescuers used hydraulic tools to cut away the top of the vehicle to provide access to the trapped passenger, while a firefighter medic provided first aid, protective covering and reassurance while rescuers worked around Rosario with power tools.

Cooperating in the exercise, Lehigh Valley Health Network dispatched a MedEvac helicopter to provide airlift service for the seriously injured Carla Pacitti. An ambulance from St. Luke’s University Health Network provided transport for Rosario.

The Lehigh County Office of the Coroner dispatched first deputy coroner Eric Minnich who pronounced Joe Pacitti “deceased” at the scene.

Nick Elias, director of the Elias Funeral Home, in Allentown, and a 1983 graduate of SHS, provided a hearse to add the realism of removing the deceased victim from the accident scene.

SADD faculty advisor Tanya Kennedy said the scenario was meant to help reinforce the need for good decisions, indicating that “drinking and driving” have no place in a high school prom celebration.