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MCHENRY 11-YEAR-OLD RACES TO THE RESCUE OF NEIGHBOR

Despite the blustery afternoon snowfall, little David Hein was pampered with his favorite ice cream treat Friday. It was a special treat, his father said, for a special hero.

David, 11, is credited with saving a neighbor who was being dragged by her moving van while it was rolling into a busy intersection in McHenry.

In between juggling phone calls from the news media and praise from police officers Friday, David said he figured he must have done something right.

“In a way it was exciting and frightening at the same time. But not like a fun exciting. I was frightened,” the McHenry boy said.

It was 8:17 a.m. Friday and David was waiting in his driveway at 2209 N. Ringwood Rd. for his school bus with his younger brother and a neighbor boy. Suddenly, they heard screams from a neighbor, Christine Krueger, 42, who lives a few doors away.

Krueger was partially trapped under her Chevrolet Lumina van and was being dragged by it as it rolled down her driveway.

David said he sprinted to the van, jumped over Krueger and into the van’s front seat and stepped on the brake.

“She then told me to put it in park, but I didn’t know what that was,” David said.

Once the van was stopped, David raced inside the woman’s home and dialed 911.

David then called his father, Michael Hein, pastor of Maranatha Assembly of God in McHenry.

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Department and the McHenry fire and rescue squads freed Krueger from the vehicle. She was taken to Northern Illinois Medical Center, where she was treated and released for a sprained ankle and bruises.

Police said that if David hadn’t stopped the van, it could have plowed into heavy traffic or into a ditch across the street.

“Thank God for him–truthfully,” Krueger said.