Plow driver saves Schaumburg woman

A Schaumburg woman was rescued from a burning vehicle Saturday morning by an IDOT snowplow driver on the Eisenhower Expressway.

Illinois Department of Transportation Highway Maintainer Demetrius Duplessis said he was cleaning off the left shoulder on the eastbound Eisenhower near California Avenue when he noticed that the car was pulled over on the left side with its engine on fire.

Duplessis said he could see smoke and burning plastic, but the car's driver, 22-year-old Khushboo Jani, was oblivious to the blaze.

"I pulled up behind it and I noticed there was a person still in there," he said. "I just ran over to the car and I was yelling to the lady, 'Get out of the car, get out of the car,' (but) she was on the phone talking to her dad. She didn't know that the car was on fire."

Duplessis said Jani looked like she was going to lock the door of the vehicle. "So I grabbed the door, opened the door and grabbed her out of it.

She said, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'Lady, look. Don't you see your car is on fire?' She said, 'Oh my god.' So I pulled her back toward my truck."

Jani, however, wanted to go back and get her schoolbooks -- she was on her way to an exam at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Tom Koch said firefighters squelched the flames, and the vehicle was towed away. Jani's father, Bharat Jani, said Sunday that the car, identified as a black Honda, is still in the garage with what is likely a problem with the radiator or a pump.

With the help of police, who gave her a ride, Jani was able to arrive at school and complete the test.

"Everybody helped her out very well," Bharat Jani said.

Khushboo Jani was unavailable for comment Sunday morning. Her father, Bharat Jani, said she was at the library studying for upcoming exams.

"We were scared," he said. "Now we feel very relaxed."

"She turned out to be OK," Duplessis said. "That's the main thing. She can get another car but she can't get another herself."