York High School freshman Sam Turk isn’t CPR-certified, but that didn’t stop him from stepping up when opportunity knocked.

Turk, 15, of Elmhurst, was at his evening driver’s ed class in Villa Park Oct. 12 when his teacher, Jerry Bradley of Batavia, collapsed.

Other students rushed to dial 911 while Bradley laid unconscious.

Bradley was blue, and wasn’t breathing.

“I realized it was very serious ... I didn’t know if he was choking on something or having a heart attack,” Turk said. “I was just following directions and was in work mode.”

A 911 dispatcher told Turk to give Bradley chest compressions while Villa Park Fire Department made their way to Behind the Wheel driving school on St. Charles Road.

Bradley, who was released from Elmhurst Memorial Hospital this week, doesn’t remember much of the incident.

“I started not feeling well, told the owner to take the class over, called my wife, and the next thing I know I’m in the hospital,” he said. “I had no pulse, no nothing. I was pretty much dead.”

Bradley said doctors aren’t entirely sure what happened to him, but their best explanation was that his heart skipped a beat. Bradley, a relatively fit man who plays travel softball, now has a defibrilator in his chest to help prevent another incident.

Villa Park Fire Department CPR instructor, firefighter, and paramedic Mike Barton stressed the importance of what Turk and his driver’s ed class did while the paramedics were on their way.

“What those kids did saved his life, they recognized the problem,” he said. “Really what they did in the interim is the most important part.”

Bradley said the experience taught him that teenagers are underestimated.

“I realized what young people are all about, they’re not what we think they are all the time ... they’re more than you think,” he said.

Although Turk, now a Behind The Wheel graduate, is thankful he had a hand in Bradley’s rescue, he hopes he won’t have to do it again.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.

Officials at Villa Park Fire Department are planning to honor each of the students present that day, but have not yet set a date.

In addition to Turk, the students involved were Steffe Jahnke of Bloomingdale, Robert Stoltz of Villa Park, Lauren Mallo of Villa Park, Michael Baier of Glen Ellyn, Karen Martinez of Franklin Park, and Jenna Splingalire of Villa Park.