Crash simulation sends message to teens to drive safe during prom, grad party season

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Neveya Barnes, an Albion High School senior, reacts after seeing her friend Nisi Beltran Roblero badly injured on a car. It was a scene from a drunk driving simulation this morning outside Albion High School. Albion police officer Chris Glogowski was among many first responders as part of the simulation.

The school district and local first responders wanted to send a message about being safe during prom and the upcoming graduation parties. Albion’s prom is this evening at the White Birch in Lyndonville.

Holley also had a DWI crash simulation this morning.

Aubrey Gannon is led by stretcher to a Mercy Flight EMS ambulance. Albion firefighters used the Jaws of Life to extricate her from the car. Another student, Kaitlynn Basinait, also was put on a stretcher and into an ambulance as part of the simulation.

Ashleigh Stornelli, an Orleans County sheriff’s deputy and the school resource officer at Albion, gave students a simple message: “Have fun and be safe.”

The young drivers were urged to be extra careful with opportunities for late nights and drinking.

The “100 Deadliest Days” is the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day when fatal teen crashes increase dramatically. AAA used that phrase after examining troubling data regarding fatal crashes among teen drivers.

Nationwide, 6,697 people died in teen driver-related summertime crashes over a ten-year period from 2013 to 2022. That is nearly half of the total number of those killed in teen-driver crashes for the entire rest of the year in that span.

The parents of Nisi Beltran Roblero, Eladio and Loyda, are shaken after being told their daughter has been pronounced dead by County Coroner Julie Woodworth. Even though it was role playing, Nisi’s parents said they were overwhelmed by the scene.

Bogan & Tuttle Funeral Home brought a hearse to take Nisi from the scene.

There was also a mock sentencing where Gideon Pask, the driver of the vehicle that caused the accident, was sentenced to state prison, a $5,000 fine, five years of probation, and a one-year revocation of his driver’s license. Once he starts driving again, he’ll have to use an interlock ignition device that tests his BAC.

Pask is led out of the LGI in the high school by Lt. Adam hazel of the Sheriff’s Department. He was sentenced by Albion Town Justice Gary Moore.

Orleans County District Attorney Susan Howard, left, prosecuted Pask for first-degree vehicular manslaughter, aggravated driving while intoxicated and reckless endangerment in the first degree.

She pushed away a call for leniency and probation only for the Pask’s lawyer.

“This is about Nisi and her family,” Howard said. “It’s not about revenge or retribution. It’s about justice.”

Diana Fulcomer, a senior prevention educator for UConnectCare, urged students to watch over each other, especially if they see others engaging in toxic drinking where their lives could be at risk from toxic alcohol poisoning.

She told them about the Red Watch challenge where they can wear a red band to remind them to watch out for one another.

Students were urged to call for help immediately if they see someone who is vomiting from alcohol, or if they don’t respond when shouted at, if they have very slow breathing, can’t stand up, have pale/bluish skin or an irregular/slow pulse.

“Be a band of students and watch over one another, and actually care,” she said.