Your Name Here
Date
Mailing Address
City, State, Zip
Y-DAD Program Essay
On March 18,2017 it was St Patrick’s day, and I was driving home little did I know my life
would change forever that day. You often hear the statistics of how accidents happen to people
close to their home, but you never think you will become one of those people in those situations.
Bad choices can make any of us a statistic. I was offered alcohol while visiting friends and did
not realize that by accepting a drink my life and the lives of those I loved would forever be
changed. So I go through the checkpoint and these officers decide to breathalyze me for a
taillight out. I was breathalyzed 11 times on record and finally blew a 0.01% BAC. I was then
detained and waited outside in the cold for over an hour thinking of my decisions and my
consequences I have to face. I ended up being arrested and taken to Santa Ana jail. Even though l
blew only a 0.01% BAC I was twenty years old so by law since I was a minor at the time it was
illegal for me to have any alcohol at all. Once they arrested me my mother came and picked up
my car since I was less than a mile from my home which was nice of the officers to do. Then
they explained to my mom that I would be booked and charged with a DUI and spend the night
in the Drunk tank which is a processing cell for 12 hours. Finally, around 4am I was booked and
by 11am I was released from jail and went back home where my family now has this burden of
my problems and I had to prepare with my lawyer for my court date in a month. After I had my
court date the judge ordered me to YDAD & a youth alcohol program. Also, I had to pay a
$2,000 fine to the court. If anything throughout this was a was a wakeup call for me this when
reality really hit me. I found myself facing DUI felony charges and wondering how I would put
1
the pieces of my life back together again. Fortunately, my attorney helped me, and the judge
believes in second chances. I began Youth Juvenile Drug and Alcohol (YDAD) classes, and it
has been sobering to say the least.
The first class YDAD class I took was the drug and alcohol awareness class. The class
instructor began with our names and everyone gave a small introduction. Then we did a survey
on local drug use. The survey was about 20 questions long and asked about your person usage
and experience. Then we watched A PowerPoint on DUI fact, fatalities. Fentanyl is killing more
people than any other drug since 2020. Fentanyl is more deadly than anything in the world right
now and there is a large opioid epidemic I learned. We also saw real life videos of people
crippled from DUI crashes. Heard heart breaking guest speakers share their DUI experiences.
Then the Instructor asked about my personal DUI story but even better he asked what’s
important in life to me now. That is my Mom and Dad and my family and friends. And the hope
that one day I can become a role model for people.
Then the next YDAD class I took was the Sherriff Coroner class. We watched videos and
PowerPoints on families who have lost loved ones to drunk driving and people under the
influence. Also, our instructor informed us on the facts and fatalities of drinking and driving. He
taught us a lot of information most teens don’t know such as the point that 3/10 Americans will
be involved in an alcohol or drug related crash. And that teenage drug users cause 4,700 people
to die each year. I didn’t realize that 575 of all fatal accidents are caused by drivers with alcohol
or drugs in their systems. And that 2 out of 3 people will be involved in a drug or alcohol related
crash in their lifetime. What really scared me was that marijuana cause many of those accidents
because people swerve out of control, and it is a gateway drug but most people think it is
harmless and it can be deadly. Then we had the honor of meeting and listening to a speaker
2
named Tino. Learning all this has really taught me that It doesn’t matter what mistakes you make
in life as long as you choose to face them and make them right and learn and grow from them.
Lastly the third class was the mission hospital trauma visit class where they take us to the
actual hospital’s morgue and trauma center. It was life changing to say the least and mething and
images I’ll never forget. The class started with presentations on fatalities from drinking and
driving and driving under influence or texting and driving, how all three can really end yours or
another person’s life in seconds. Then was the visit to the Morgue. This changed my life going to
where the keep the bodies of people who have passed away from drunk driving the coroner
brought us down to the trials center and then into the actual morgue. I found out that about 35
people die every day in Orange County. Fentanyl and Texting while driving is now the leading
cause of accidents and deaths amongst teenage drivers. As we looked at people’s bodies in the
morgue that were shown to us, we were told that the toe tag is to identify the person. The coroner
classifies the death as wither natural, accidental, homicide, suicide, multi-traumatic. It was sad to
think about how they store dead bodies. They are put in body bags, then fingerprints taken by
laser scans to run through the FBI agencies, to notify family members, babies are kept in separate
area from other bodies. If a body is lying out then it is ready to be auto If a body is lying out then
it is ready to be autopsied. They do a toxicology, semen and urine sample, etc. X-rays are taken
to determine cause of death. A autopsy can take approximately 2-3 hours unless there are gun
shots or stab wounds and that can take much longer. The coroner said they remove organs from
the bodies to examine them and some are replaced before sent for burial or cremation. I was
surprised to find out that half of the fatal crashes are caused by teenagers during the hours of
4pm-6am. Realizing I could have been of been one of those kids was the
biggest impact of all that I learned.
3
In conclusion over these years, now that I am twenty-three and was twenty when this
happened, I have reflected on a lot in life. I Really have tried to practice everything I have
learned from these classes and this life experience in general. Especially in 2022 life has been
anything but normal but we can never give up. Since this has happened to me, I have become a
licensed ABA therapist and am a semester away from completing my associates degree. At
twenty-three years old I am sober. I have not drank any alcohol since 2018 Knowing now that I
could have been bringing her to the morgue to I.D. my body and I might have been one of those
people laying out there for a class like mine to come and view hoping that they realized that the
coroner that was with them had the job of I.D. my body, locate my family, protect my body from
disrespect, establish the manner of my death or find the motive if I had been murdered. At any
rate, I was very blessed, and God has shown me that I have a lot to share with other young
people and maybe I can help save a few lives now that I have been given a second chance to do
better and help others.
Sincerely,
Your Name Here
