Knoxville High School juniors and seniors attended a presentation Wednesday morning called “Choices Matter.” Georgia native Chris Sandy was a drunk driver in a crash in 2000 which resulted in the death of two people, and spent over eight years in prison for his actions. Sandy now travels throughout the country to share his story, in an effort to prevent these kinds of accidents in the future. He spoke not only on the experiences of prison, but also how his decision that day will haunt him for the rest of his life. School Resource Officer Kyle Keller says Sandy’s story is impactful to students, as someone who continues to live out the consequences of a bad decision over 21 years ago.

“He’s lived it. He’s gone through this stuff and he’s got a good story to tell. I’ve worked several OWI cases and arrested several people, I’ve had good conversations with people about it. I hope those people learned and took it as a good lesson and have never done it again. But I don’t know that for sure. I can tell the kids everything I’ve done and seen in my 14 years of law enforcement. Hearing it from someone who’s actually experienced it themselves and made that mistake, and ended a couple people’s lives because of it, I think that’s going to be more impactful than a police officer standing up there and telling them you shouldn’t drink and drive because this, this, and this.”

After the presentation, students had the opportunity to visit with Sandy, use a driving simulator, and use the impairment goggles.