Don’t become a bad memory

Barrhead RCMP Cpl. Riley Sutherland and Const. Nick Crowther can remember in vivid detail every fatal motor vehicle accident scene they have ever attended, every element and they don’t want the area’s youth to become one of those bad memories.

That is what they told more than 100 Grade 9 students from Barrhead, Neerlandia, and Fort Assiniboine during a May 15 PARTY Program event at Barrhead Composite High School.

“Do you remember the picture of the fellow who was trapped in the vehicle and burned to death,” Sutherland said, referring to a previous PowerPoint slide. “Do you know what that smelled like? The smell of burning human flesh? I can and it doesn’t take much for me to recall every vivid detail of the accident. A few moments in a dark room that’s all it takes and I can recall everything.”

Crowther agreed, saying every time he takes part in these types of presentations the memories of every fatal accident come flooding back to him, including one, when he was stationed in a small rural community, which is very similar to Barrhead.

One night a group of kids decided to go out partying in a rural area, something Crowther said was a common occurrence.

This particular time, in addition to the standard partying the youths, decided to add stunting and car racing to their activities.

“They were racing, the other guy because he was that far ahead, checked to see where the other one was, he didn’t see him and he was hit by the other vehicle,” Crowther said. “When I found him, his leg which was detached from his body was pinched in between the rear tire. To the left of the car was his other leg and in front of that was his torso.”

As difficult as it was to see the carnage at the accident scene, his next task, informing the parents of the loss of their child was just as painful.

“I knew the kids and their parents. I was friends with them,” he said. “I had been to their house for meals, coffee and that morning, was the hardest time I have had doing this job I … when I had to tell my friends that their kid wasn’t coming home.”

And the worst part of it all is that it didn’t have to happen.

“You are all smart kids, young adults who have all seen these types of presentations. You know about the dangers of drinking or doing drugs and then getting behind the wheel of a car but then half of you will make that very decision,” Crowther said, adding hopefully this time the message will sink through.

The PARTY (Prevent Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth) program was created in 1986 by an emergency room nurse at Toronto’s Sunnybrook hospital started the program after she saw countless youths in accidents that could have easily been avoided.

Locally the Barrhead Cares coalition, a group of community organizations taking action to build a safe and healthy community through advocacy, support, prevention and community development, began hosting events in 1993. Its purpose is to provide relevant information to youth, in hopes they will be able to recognize potential injury producing situations

“At the time, every year we were losing a couple of our young people every year starting at the May long weekend due to impaired driving,” Barrhead Victim Service Unit program manager and Cares coalition member Heidi Magnus.

Over the years she said the day has taken many different forms, from a motor-vehicle accident scene to information presentations on sexual assault and the law, a seminar on addictions, and a presentation on what happens at an accident scene from the perspective of Emergency Medical Services crews.