A Sobering Lesson : Education: Instructor uses ex-student’s death to pound home point of drunk-driving’s consequences.

Every Saturday since Khash Nejad opened his Teen Driving Academy four years ago, students have strolled into the classroom to learn the rules of the road.But every fourth Saturday, Nejad now teaches a class he prays they don’t forget.

After a desert crash took the lives of four Katella High School students and injured four others last summer, Nejad chose to turn the loss into a lesson for the drunk-driving portion of the academy.

Steven Bender, 18, one of those who died in the crash, sat in the very classroom where about 25 teens gathered Saturday.

Yellowing newspaper clippings on the fatal accident hang on the wall of the classroom, and his story has become an integral part of Nejad’s passionate plea.

“I talk about Steven in class, and I hand out a lot of the funeral programs,” Nejad, 31, said. “You always think it’s the bad apples who get in trouble. I tell them, ‘Some of you guys are athletes, Eagle Scouts, some of you go to church, some of you get good grades. Well, here’s a person who was all of that, and he used to sit in that chair where you are sitting. And he’s dead now.’ ”

Students stop fidgeting in their seats when Nejad begins to describe Steven Bender, who was nicknamed “Pig” after a character in “Lord of the Flies,” a book about a group of boys who revert to savagery and murder when stranded on an island. Nejad talks about the way Steven played around in class making funny faces and cracking jokes and then recalls the way his mother cried at his funeral.

“Your parents are not supposed to be burying you. That is the cost of a beer or two,” he said as the students passed around Bender’s funeral program. “You tell me, is it worth it?” Nejad said the drunk-driving portion of the course is tremendously effective, and the recent tragedy serves as a brutal reminder to these teens that they too are at risk.

“When we get to this topic, there’s no smiles, no comedy,” Nejad said. “Personally, it hurts me to know that this stuff happens. I think I get through to them all. I try to. But I can’t bring Steven back. This is the only thing I can do.”

Teaching the teens is his civic duty, he said.

“This is a matter of public safety,” he said. “If I don’t do my job properly, it could be dangerous for the whole community.”

Nejad wrote to Bender’s mother, Cindy Bender, after the accident and promised her that he and the memory of her son would work together to save some lives.

“His picture will stay on my classroom wall and everyone coming through these doors will know him also,” Nejad said the letter.

Cindy Bender described Nejad’s class as a wonderful tribute to her son.

“Driving an automobile is like playing with a loaded gun. One split second can make all the difference,” said Cindy Bender, her voice choked with emotion. “If Steven’s story can save one life, then I feel a little better.”

Nejad was shocked to hear of the accident, he said, describing it as a all-too-familiar, textbook case of teen-age drinking and driving.

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“They were driving between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., the driver’s blood alcohol was .16, twice the legal limit,” he said. “It’s classic.”

Steven Bender and seven other boys were driving on a dirt road in the Mojave Desert on July 29 when their Chevrolet Suburban hit a berm and rolled several times before stopping. The wreckage reeked with alcohol, authorities said, and more than 40 beer cans were scattered on the desert floor at the accident scene.

James V. Patterson, 18, who was driving the car, denied the vehicular manslaughter and drunk-driving charges against him at a Juvenile Court proceeding, and was allowed to remain home with his parents as long as he meets 14 conditions of home supervision, the district attorney’s office said. A pretrial conference date is set for Nov. 17.

According to a California Highway Patrol report, Patterson--who was 17 at the time of the crash--drank 10 beers and slept less than four hours before getting behind the wheel and losing control. Days after the crash, a small wooden cross was placed at the scene. One of the scrawled messages on it read, “Eight friends took a trip through the desert. Four came home alive. The trip will never end.”

One driving school student, Tom Peters, 15, whose parents know Steven Bender’s parents, said Saturday’s class made him realize that he too could be involved in a crash like Steven’s.

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“People think that it’s cool to drink and drive,” said Peters, a sophomore at Western High School in Anaheim. “But there’s no point in it. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

Another student, 17-year-old Denise Gutierrez agreed. “It’s so sad. He wasn’t even driving,” said the junior at El Modena High School in Orange. “But he knew what was going on. He should have known not to get into that car.”