Photo Gallery: A Real Response to a Staged, Deadly Crash

Hundreds of South Pasadena High School juniors and seniors gathered behind the campus Wednesday as they quielty watched their friends splayed out in the street. They stared with muted awe as firefighters hoisted two of them on gurneys, handcuffed another and sent one to the morgue.

An overturned car and smashed windshield served as a chilling reminder of what not to do: Drink and drive. 

"If one student does not enter a vehicle driven by an impaired driver, the program was a success. If one student has the nerve to do what is right and notifies an authority when they are in a situation where alcohol or other inebriates  are present, the program was a success. If a parent or other adult follows up on a call from a student, the program was a success,'' Interim Police Chief Art Miller said of "Every 15 Minutes,'' a national program that teaches kids the consequences of alcohol-impaired driving.

Miller stood behind the yellow police caution tape during the staged event Wednesday. He saw the kids' expressions as ones of seriousness and concern. Further, he thought that the spontaneous applause at the end of the exercise "spoke volumes'' about how the students received the program's message.

To see what it felt like to play the kid who just "killed'' his classmate, watch SPHS senior Alessio Guerra tell you. 

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