Lemont High School Grad Rescues Man from Burning Car

A Lemont High School graduate is being hailed as a hero, after he and a friend pulled over to pull a man from a burning car Sunday.

Ray Cepele, a member of LHS 2013 graduating class, was driving with friend Rimas Barsketis on I-355 southbound when they spotted a fiery crash—and worse, a figure in the driver’s seat.

“I was just trying to do the right thing, and I don’t really think about doing anything else but trying to save his life,” Cepele told ABC7.

Illinois State Police said the driver crashed into a wall after losing control of his car near Butterfield Road around 1:30 a.m. The friends were returning from a Lithuanian dance when they came upon the crash. They pulled over, screaming for the driver to get out of the car. The driver stepped out, but appeared disoriented.

“He tried going back to the car, so then we tried pulling him. Then we at least got him outside, so he wouldn’t go back to the burning car,” Cepele said.

The driver, 33-year-old Jesus Nunez of Rolling Meadows, wasn’t injured in the crash, but he faces several charges for the incident. Nunez is charged with drunken driving, operating an uninsured vehicle, driving too fast for conditions or failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, leaving the scene of an accident and crossing a lane boundary unsafely, according to the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office website.

He was booked May 10 in the DuPage County Jail, and his bond was set at $1,000.

“It’s so unreal seeing a man just sitting in a burning car,” Cepele said. “I’m glad everyone is OK.”

Cepele was a two-sport athlete in tennis and golf, a National Honor Society student, and consistently appeared on the high honor roll, according to Lemont High School records.

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