Bartlett man pulls driver from train tracks in Des Plaines

Joe Pepsnik was almost to his mom's house when he saw an SUV straddling the railroad tracks in downtown Des Plaines.

Though it was 5:45 p.m. Monday and perhaps the area's busiest time for trains, Pepsnik parked his car and ran to check on the driver.

Inside, Robert Kuhn, 61, was passed out, his foot still on the accelerator.

"I yelled at him to wake up and get off the tracks," Pepsnik said. "But he was pretty out of it. He didn't understand me."

So Pepsnik grabbed Kuhn by his jacket and pulled him out of the car. Then, because Pepsnik's pickup had a tow, he backed it up and hooked a chain from the truck to Kuhn's SUV.

That's when Pepsnik saw an oncoming train's lights and heard the gate beeping.

"I knew I had a few minutes, though," he said. "I was pretty lucky. I just happened to have all the hooks set up."

The whole thing took three to five minutes.

When police arrived minutes later, they determined Kuhn had tried to turn left on River Road from Miner Street but ended up on the tracks. The Des Plaines man was later charged with DUI, said Police Chief Jim Prandini.

"He was highly intoxicated, but suffered no injuries from the accident," Prandini said. "It was extremely slippery."

So slippery in fact, that a Des Plaines police officer was also taken to the hospital after falling near the accident. She was released later Monday and wasn't seriously injured, Prandini said.

Kuhn was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he remained in critical condition Tuesday night, a hospital spokesman said.

Pepsnik lives in Bartlett with his wife, and two sons, ages 7 years and 15 months. He's a sales and security consultant for American Building Services in Wheeling.

"I didn't really think about it. I guess that's what I was supposed to do, save some dude's life," said Pepsnik from his office Tuesday.