Mock DUI crash raises fentanyl awareness

RATHDRUM — Friday, Lakeland High School seniors experienced some of the horror of a fatal drunk-driving accident.

The teaching event, staged annually, is coordinated by first responders and others in the community to pound home the consequences of drinking and driving.

But this year was different.

It started with campus armed guard John Hatcher's 911 call blaring through a loudspeaker across the parking lot.

Students were forced to walk past Piper Reilly, Lakeland's ASB president, sprawled on the ground, covered in fake blood as she screamed for best friend Avery Sherman.

Thomas Calder, also drenched in red, moved to Piper and tried to calm her. Lying in the grass, Avery clutched her stomach ... before going motionless.

In the simulation, three students in a minivan sped through the parking lot and struck three pedestrians, who were subsequently sprawled in front of the school.

The minivan came to rest on its side, windows shattered.

The "driver," senior Deegan Chambers, was pulled from the vehicle first and pronounced dead on the scene. Firefighters cut passengers Taylor Winkelkotter and Trey South were cut from the wreckage.

Prior to the "crash," Chambers had simulated a headache and asked for an aspirin.

“What did you give him?” Thomas shouted.

“It was just aspirin,” Taylor kept shouting. “I didn’t know.”

It was later determined the aspirin had been laced with fentanyl — the first time that soul-crushing drug had been used in Lakeland's effort to protect their fledgling Hawks.

“We have to stay with the trends,” Hatcher said. “Right now, it’s everywhere, and we need to do something different to stick with the times.”

Many of the seniors were visibly affected or shaken.

“It’s a lot more real than I thought it was going to be,” Hadley West said.

Hearing Piper’s cries was a jarring experience.

“It made me a little scared,” said Alyson Clanin. “It was really surreal just to see our friends like that.”

Parents looked on.

“It affects all of them, right along with the family,” Northern Lakes Fire District chaplain Dan Atkinson said, admitting even he had a hard time watching.

"It brings back memories," he said.

Family members of participants in the mock crash were affected by the harrowing scene.

“You know it’s not real,” Trey’s mother, Nicole South, said on the verge of tears. “But you know that it is real for some parents. And that’s every parent's worst nightmare. The visual of that is kind of haunting.

“It takes it to another level,” said Trey’s father, John South. “It’s really scary. We’ve known all these kids for years. The fact that it’s Deegan and Taylor in there – and Trey – it’s really hard.”

Fentanyl is here

Changing this year’s mock DUI substance from alcohol to fentanyl made sense to Lakeland Principal Jimmy Hoffman.

From 2020 to 2021, the rate of fentanyl-related overdose deaths doubled in Idaho, according to the Idaho Office of Drug Policy at fentanyltakesall.org/facts.

“Nationally, the leading cause of death in people 18-45 is a drug overdose,” Idaho State Police Capt. John Kempf said. “Fentanyl has absolutely changed the game for us.”

Police can't arrest their way out of this drug crisis, "so for us it’s all about the education and the partnerships," Kempf said.

ISP collaborates with North Idaho Alliance of Care, an organization that works to reduce and prevent harm related to drug use and addiction.

“There are some demographics that are specifically opting to use fentanyl, but there are some that are not aware that it’s in their supply,” North Idaho Alliance of Care prevention manager Roxann Esparaza said.

She said fentanyl is already killing in North Idaho.

"Parents, teachers, school officials, religious groups – there’s a variety of people that are now coming around and seeing that this is an issue," Esparaza said. "The services that we offer are needed.”

During the assembly following the DUI demonstration, Northern Lakes EMS Division Chief Shane Anderson sprayed into the air an entire nasal dose of Naloxone, a medicine that reverses an opioid overdose.

“It’s literally a drug we put in your nose to see if you wake up,” Anderson said to the students. “But, with the strength of fentanyl, that’s out there now, this isn’t going to do anything for you.”

He then pulled out an intubation tube.

“So then I’d put this tube down your throat and start blowing into your lungs,” he said. “You might want to experience fentanyl thinking, 'oh, it’s a low dose.' But someone could hand you something and you have no idea what the elements are. You have no idea how it’s going to affect you.

"And we don’t always know if the Naloxone will work.”