"After about 20-25 seconds, his face was turning a dark purple and

there was no chest movement," Richtsteig said. "I just tried to the best

of my ability to recall the CPR training the office gives us.

 

"I gave him one, firm rescue breath and, by the grace of God, he

started gasping and continued breathing. The option was to watch a man

die or try and do something -- and this is what we are trained to do."

 

Following resuscitation, the victim "got up and tried to be his normal self," Richtsteig said.

 

DuPage County Chief of Corrections Dave Lavery said the victim

Tuesday remained hospitalized, where he continued to undergo further

testing and  medical procedures.

 

"(The victim) won the lottery 10 times over," Richtsteig said.

"There were so many variables that worked out in his favor, and they all

enabled us to  help him."

 

Richtsteig, 43, filled out "a couple follow-up reports" before he

was dismissed a bit early -- and deservedly so. He became only the

second recipient of the "Sheriff's Silver Challenge Coin," which recognizes

office employees for exemplary work -- above and beyond the call of duty.

 

"For Ed to respond the way he did was just incredible -- and

there's a guy  alive because of it," Lavery said. "He saw a co-worker down

and, without  any concern for himself, responded. But I think he

would have done it for  any citizen on the street."

 

That came next.

 

Richtsteig -- who is "all too often riding on fumes" -- traveled

from  Wheaton to Batavia , where he stopped his pick-up truck at a gas

station on  the southwest corner of Houston Street and

North Batavia Avenue (Rt. 31).

 

He said he swiped his credit card "and was getting ready to choose

my  grade of gasoline when I heard a short screech of rubber and what

sounded  like a gunshot."

 

At 3:46 p.m., according to a Batavia police report, two cars

collided at  the intersection of Houston and Rt. 31. The force of the

collision pushed  one car into a 25-foot, aluminum light pole and a stop

sign located at the  intersection.

 

Richtsteig, who had not begun fueling, said he looked up to see "a

pick-up  truck with extreme front- end damage barreling right at me, so

I jumped  out of its path."

 

A third vehicle in line for a fill-up and two fuel pumps were

struck by  the first car, which ultimately came to rest between the two

pumping  islands.

 

Richtsteig returned to the front end of his

truck, thinking, "I'm in the  clear," he said. "What else could possibly go wrong now?"

 

Richtsteig happened to look up and see the previously struck light

pole  "now plummeting directly toward my head . . . it was coming out of

the  sky."

 

Richtsteig again leaped out of the way, a split-second before the

pole  slammed onto his truck, severely denting its hood, smashing its

windshield, and damaging the driver's side door.

 

Richtsteig noticed liquids, including gasoline and radiator fluid,

streaming from the car that careened into the station's lot. He ran to two

of the cars and helped the dazed drivers, both elderly, out of their

vehicles, before escorting them to safety away from the pumps, which could

have exploded at any moment, but never did.

 

One crash victim told Richtsteig he was "just stunned . . . I want

to sit  here for awhile," to which Richtsteig replied, "No, sir, we gotta

go."

 

"It was almost surreal," said Alan Wolff, a mechanic at the gas

station  and, ironically, a friend and neighbor of Richtsteig. "I was just

hanging  up the phone and getting ready to wave to Ed when everything

happened. It  was almost like watching a movie scene."

For Richtsteig, all things considered, it presented a perfect

ending.  "I just reflect in amazement at how many times during the day

somebody  could have died or been killed," Richtsteig[0] said. "That was the

luckiest  day of my life."