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Police educate prom-goers at Elgin High

With prom season approaching the Elgin Police Department is trying to educate students about the dangers of drinking and driving.

The department brought its Operation Prom Night program to Elgin High School for the first time Monday, presenting a drunken driving crash scene that ends with one high school student dead and another facing DUI charges.

Elgin High senior Reza Khan, who portrayed the drunken driver, thinks the scenario will hit home with students.

"Most of the teenagers, and I've felt it before, feel they're invincible and they can do anything," he said. "Once they see that doing these things actually has a consequence that impacts so many people's lives and not just themselves, I think it will make them rethink their bad decisions."

Elgin Police Officer Lorenz Burkert, who led the effort that included the Elgin Fire Department, the Kane County coroner's office, Air-One Emergency Response Coalition and State Farm Insurance agent Gina Gonzalez, said statistics dictate high schools need these kinds of programs.

During the scenario he provided play-by-play on a speaker for the 1000 or so juniors and seniors who watched, telling them that car crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens in the United States and that eight teens die every day in DUI crashes.

  Junior Debbie Ogunribido plays the passenger and victim of a fatal drunken driving crash during Operation Prom Night Monday at Elgin High School. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  One student actor is loaded in to the Kane County coroner's van as another is airlifted from the scene during Operation Prom Night Monday at Elgin High School. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
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