For many teens in the Fox Valley dinner out at a restaurant may be a special event in itself, but for one young man from Montgomery, he got to put years of instruction to use and save a life in the process.
Eric Biegalski is a 17-year-old senior at Yorkville High School who was eating dinner at an area restaurant last month when he got a frantic tap on his shoulder signaling him for help.
“I was sitting there and then this man is tapping on my shoulder,” he said. “He had his hands around his throat and his face was turning red.”
At that point the Eagle Scout from Bristol Troop 34 and fire science student at Indian Valley Vocational Center said his classes and years of training took over as he did the Heimlich maneuver on the choking man.
While he was performing a life-saving technique he had practiced for years, there were others in the room watching his every move.
“There were two (Indian Valley) instructors who were there and saw me. They came up to me afterward and said I did a good job,” Biegalski said.
His proud mother Louise said the instructors said they would have jumped in, “but they didn’t have to.”
Biegalski said the man whose life he saved picked up his tab for rescuing him.
“It’s always good to know, you never know when you will need it,” he said about the life-saving technique.
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“I was having dinner and looked over and saw Eric doing the maneuver, said Sarah Speerly, an EMT instructor at Indian Valley. “We stood back, made sure he didn’t need any assistance and he was handling everything wonderfully.”
Speerly and another instructor both talked with Biegalski as they left the restaurant.
“There was no reason to step in unless we had to. The only reason I knew him was due to his fire science sweatshirt from Indian Valley that he was wearing,” she said.
The instructor said Biegalski will be “absolutely excellent” in his future endeavors. The man whose life he saved did not identify himself.
The high school student is taking classes to be a firefighter and EMT at Indian Valley. He plans to continue studying fire science at Waubonsee Community College and then attend Southern Illinois University to earn his bachelor’s degree in fire science management.
Montgomery Mayor Matt Brolley recently presented Biegalski an award for his live-saving moment.
Judy Pochel is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News