AUBURN – The girl in a black prom dress lying on the pavement didn’t move. Red liquid poured from her nose and ears, pooling near her head; a puddle of red on her chest.

A few yards away, three teens appeared stunned as they sat in a crumpled electric-blue sedan, red stains dotting their prom outfits.

Standing on a nearby hill, a group of Edward Little High School students looked on as the morbid tableau unfolded in the parking lot, billed as a mock fatal drunken driving accident.

Police cars screeched to a halt. Officers jumped out to secure the scene. They pulled the wailing prom-goers, Briana Moreau and Tonya Cole, from the side of Brenda Roberts, their would-be lifeless friend. In reality, all were theater students helping to act out the drama.

A police officer gave Darrin Hart, who role-played the drunken driver, a field sobriety test before handcuffing the student and hauling him away in a cruiser. Firefighters used an extrication tool to cut a crash-dummy driver from a mangled dark blue sedan. They performed CPR on the faux-patient, strapped him to a backboard and flew him off to a local hospital in a LifeFlight helicopter.

When a police officer pulled a bong and a liquor bottle from the student’s car, the crowd on the hill erupted in cheers.

A sobering talk followed in the gymnasium, where Kevin McCoy told assembled students about his ordeal after a drunk driver slammed into his car almost three years ago.

“I’m a live victim,” he told the students. One of the lucky ones.

The 26-year-old read from a letter he wrote for the judge who sentenced the woman who caused his accident.

He broke his sternum and hip, where he has a 5-inch plate, 11 screws and a 22-inch scar from the seat belt, he said. He suffered two brain contusions from his head slamming against the steering wheel, affecting his speech and sight.

He was on life support for four days. It took more than seven months before he was able to care for his two young children without his wife standing nearby.

He lived in a daze from the brain injury.

“Finally, I realized I wasn’t dreaming and this was reality,” he said. He sank into depression. He could no longer work as a mason and carpenter to provide for his family.

Now, 172 appointments with doctors, therapists and psychologists later, he is driving again and able to function in the world, he said.

“I can accept what’s been done to me,” he said, reading from the letter. What he found hard to accept, he said, was the misdemeanor plea given to the woman who nearly killed him.

Auburn Mayor John Jenkins spoke to the students, urging them to stop and consider instead of acting on impulse, especially this time of year as graduation parties near.

“All I ask you to do is think,” he said.