FARMINGTON — It was a mock accident scene — this time.

But organizers and emergency personnel know all too well that the next time, maybe during graduation season, could be different.

Students and community members witnessed the potential results of drunken driving Thursday afternoon at a staged accident on South Street next to the University of Maine at Farmington campus.

The scenario included a pedestrian, played by Hannah Whitaker, being struck in the crosswalk outside the Student Center. A drunken driver, played by Tiffany Duplessis, tried to swerve but hit her and hit another car with four passengers. The driver of the second car, Renee Clermont, was killed. Her passengers, played by Meghan Plant, Michelle Cote and Brody Ford, are injured.

At 4 p.m. a 911 call was made by a distraught student played by Kaitlyn Victory who discovered the girl lying in the street and no one apparently moving in either vehicle.

Soon, Farmington police, campus police, members of Farmington Fire and Rescue, NorthStar ambulances, state police and Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies arrived.  Funeral home personnel arrive to take the deceased away.

A large crowd gathered to watch the sometimes chilling, distressing scene.

Sam Judkins, 7,  and his mother, Betsy, watched as she explained what was happening.

She said she brought him to the demonstration because she thought it was important to know what goes on at an accident. Her husband was in an accident when she was pregnant with Sam and they talk about what happened to him, she said.

Graduation “is a celebratory time for people of all ages,” Peter Osborne, an organizer representing Student Life on campus, said. “It seems like an appropriate time to bring this to people’s attention.”

With college and high school graduations about to start, the message they brought to light is “drunk and distracted driving can be deadly at any age,” according to explanations handed out to audience members.

NorthStar ambulance service personnel sponsor several of mock accident scenes, David Robie, director, said. Similar events have taken place at Rangeley, Mt. Abram and Jay high schools. 

They approached Student Life and Public Safety at the university and found much help in preparing for Thursday’s mock scene, Robie said.

As firefighters worked to extricate the deceased driver, emergency medical technicians work on injured passengers and the pedestrian, Farmington police test and arrest the drunk driver. The exercise gives all the emergency crews a chance to practice together, Robie said.

Maybe one will watch the scene and stop to think before driving or riding with a drunken driver, he said. “Maybe . . . but we never know.”

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