Students crowded into the Ty Cobb Stadium bleachers, after announcements were made for the beginning of what was known to be the "Mock Accident," a demonstration against drunk driving.
On a hot and sunny day, the smell of alcohol was faint in the breeze.
Hidden within a foggy embrace, two cars could be seen facing each other head on.
A body was thrown out of one vehicle, and the other nine passengers' bodies could be seen mangled and bloody.
Drunk driving kills more than 13,000 people a year.
Some of those people hadn't even consumed alcoholic beverages. Some had simply ridden in a car with someone under the influence, some were unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, meeting the drunken driver on the road.
Imagine, the intersection of Nanticoke and Main Street on a Friday night. One driver, Troy Polokovich, drives with four other friends after he had been consuming alcoholic beverages at the high top park.
In another car, five students returning home after hanging out at a friend's house, without consuming any alcoholic beverages, are driving along when Troy hits them head-on.
The driver of the second vehicle, Ian Lambert hadn't been wearing his seat belt and was thrown from the car on impact. The other passengers included Emery Jamerson, Emma Zeremba, Mike Andrews, and Ian's twin sister Carrie Lambert.
This scenario, though staged for this demonstration, can be very, very real.
"9-1-1, state your emergency."
Emery Jamerson, the front seat passenger to the car Ian Lambert was driving, stammered out a response as his voice quivered and broke, explaining the accident, the bodies injured, the life already lost.
In the other car, Troy Polakovich, seemingly unharmed, jumped out of his car holding what appeared to be beer cans. He quickly stashed them behind a trash can, getting rid of the evidence that alcohol had been involved in the accident.
The sound of cries and pleas could be heard as policemen tried to calm the injured passengers, reassuring that "help is on the way."
Emergency Help rushed down past the pit to the gravel and track of the football field.
"You'll notice no one is rushing, no one is running. Safety of the rescue victims is number one," explained the announcer of the demonstration at U-E.
EMTs worked to remove the injured students from the car, explaining that in a real life situation, the car would actually be removed from around the victim, however that couldn't be demonstrated without injuring the victims today.
With only 35 minutes left remaining on the clock, Carrie Lambert was the first victim to be removed from the car and put into an ambulance.
Heads quickly averted away from the body and towards the sky, where the faint sounds of a helicopter could be heard.
The Guthrie Clinic helicopter, which was sent to the scene of the crash, flew directly above the high school’s track, circling the turf multiple times as the clock reached 25 minutes left.
The remaining victims, Emery, Ken, Emma, Tiano, Mike, John and Megan were rescued, Megan being the last victim rescued with only 10 minutes left on the clock.
Meanwhile, as the Emergency Medical Team was rescuing the victims, Troy was brought to the police car where he had to take the standardized field sobriety test.
The test consisted of walking 9 steps forward in a straight line, pivoting, and walking 9 steps in the previous direction.
Troy only walked 8 and 8, proving to the officer that not only was he physically unable to pass the test, but also mentally, as he was unable to respond and follow the directions given.
Troy was then escorted to the police car. He could have potentially been charged with manslaughter and, if it was confirmed that he was intoxicated, he could have been facing 15 years in jail.
But beyond that, Troy would have to live with the fact that not only did one young, innocent man die, but also that, every single person in both of the two cars, not to mention their families and friends, will now be emotionally, if not physically scarred because of his choice to get behind a wheel drunk.
“No one is immune to the effects of alcohol. 13,000 people are killed by drunk driving in the U.S, every year,” said the District Attorney, who ultimately decides Troy’s penalty.