This Year

LYNN - Members of the Lynn Police Department and Lynn Public Schools gave a presentation Tuesday to Classical High School's graduating class, not to shock them but with the hopes they will make it through senior week alive.

"There is nothing worse than to face tragedy over something that can he prevented," Principal Gene Constantino said. "Many of you have faced tragedy already. We want you to have a good life and to be safe. We want you to have fun at the prom and all your senior week events. We are asking you to pay attention today and make good choices."

Constantino also pleaded with students to be smart and not end up like the Saugus teen who last year killed a pedestrian while driving home from a post-prom party.

"Please listen to today's message because it would be awful to have to face graduation the way Saugus did last year," he said.

Lynn Police Detective Lawrence Wentzell told the students fatal accidents are something that he and Officer Robert LeBlanc see every day.

"I'm not here to shock you, I just want to tell you what you can do," he said. "Nobody here is going to be holding your hand through life, telling you not to pick up that drink. Don't drink and drive. Don't compound one bad decision by making another. Today you're one thing, tomorrow you're an inmate. Don't let that happen to you. You do not have to drink to have a good time."

The students also viewed informational videos, the first being a public service announcement created about the dangers of text messaging and driving. It featured a three-car accident caused by a teen driver with three friends in her car. She struck another vehicle with a family of four inside before being struck by another vehicle. The teen driver and back seat passengers appeared to be dead, while the teen in the passenger seat, covered in blood, screamed in agony. The small children in the back seat of the car they hit begged their parents to wake up.

"It kind of opens yours eyes," senior Jordan Clabeaux said. "Everyone knows the risks but this kind of shows the effects they have. It kind of brings it down to reality just to make sure that everyone knows exactly the gravity of their decisions. It was good to see."

Dennis Thompson, assistant director of curriculum K-12 health and physical education, told the students he, too, is guilty of texting and driving. He also mentioned he is the parent of two young children and he will not do that with his children in the car.

"I am not your parent," he said. "Today is a day about information. It is up to you to decide what you do with the information. Do you want to make good decisions or do you want to put yourself at risk? It is more dangerous to send and receive a text message than to drink and drive."

Thompson said teen drivers are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal car accident and it is the number one cause of death of people between the ages of 16 and 20. He offered different ways to handle texting, including pulling over to a safe area or having a friend text for you. He also mentioned iPhone applications including Drive Safe, which reads text messages to you and Text Blocker, which detects motion in a vehicle and prevents texts from being received.

Students then watched a video about Traci, who was 18 when she was the passenger in the car of a drunken driver who sped into a tree. She was in a coma for 81 days with severe internal damage to her liver and brain. She currently has facial paralysis and is lucky to be able to walk and talk. The biggest responsibilities in her life include feeding the family dog and the birds outside. She is unable to work or live on her own.

LeBlanc showed pictures of bodies after violent crashes while explaining the difficulty of his job. Some images were so graphic that a student from Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, who saw the assembly on May 27, fainted. LeBlanc told the recent story of Marblehead teen Christopher Maxson, who is facing up to 15 years in prison for the vehicular homicide of his girlfriend Julia Gauthier.

"Four 19 year olds, best friends since elementary school," LeBlanc said. "They were driving home from a party where they had been drinking on Essex Street. The driver got side swiped while he was blowing through a stop sign. The car flipped over and his girlfriend was removed. The car rolled over her head. I had to be there. I had to witness that. I had to talk to the kids involved. It wasn't easy. I was a grief counselor more than a police officer. It does happen."

Senior Larry Cheung said it was a good presentation for the senior class.

"I thought the presentation was extremely powerful, a strong message for every senior attending senior prom," Cheung said. "It is a good preventative measure to prevent teenagers from making the wrong decisions, especially around this exciting time. Whenever we are the most happy, that is also when we are the most vulnerable and this presentation really brought that out."

Jessica Toomey, a guidance counselor at Classical, said she was horrified and felt "queasy" watching the presentation, but thought the message was good.

"I think it is important that we do this," she said. "I think the footage that they show is graphic and it's real and it is powerful. I hope the message gets out to the kids and makes them think that one extra second and makes them have that extra thought when they make that bad decision. As a kid it was one thing watching videos like that, but as a parent, it takes on a whole new message."

Students at Lynn English High School are scheduled to receive the same presentation on Monday, June 7.