Students celebrated after helping crash victim

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two teens are being praised by their principal, who says their act of everyday heroism coming to the aid of a crash victim on their way to school doesn't just reflect well on them but echoes wider through the city. She says she understands the Englewood neighborhood faces a lot of challenges but her main point is this: Give children there a chance.

Antonio Moore and Quasha Barr were riding a CTA bus to Harper High School in West Englewood when they passed a three-vehicle crash. The driver of a silver SUV was trapped, her car flipped over.

"So I look over, and then when I tapped Antonio like, 'look, look,' Antonio was like, 'I'm getting off the bus,'" says Barr, a freshman at Harper.

"God puts you in places for a reason," Moore, a sophomore at Harper, says.

The teens hopped off the bus and ran straight to the trapped driver.

"I looked through the back window," Moore recalls. "She was in her seat, but laying there with her seatbelt on."

"If that was me, I would want somebody to help me too," Barr says.

The pair tried to open the doors, but they jammed. With emergency crews on their way they decided to stay with the woman.

"We said we wouldn't leave her until we knew she was good," Moore says.

Barr also began recording the scene on his phone, thinking of another problem they might encounter once they eventually got to school.

"I put on my phone, just recording, so we have proof we were here helping and stuff," he says.

In the end, their willingness to help is proof enough for Harper High School Principal Leonetta Sanders.

"Even though she may not know their names and they may not know her name, they helped out a stranger and that is just awesome to me," she says.

First responders pulled the woman to safety, and school officials recognized Moore during a sophomore assembly. But the most memorable moment may have been a simple gesture: a smile.

"They pulled her out, and she came across me and him and we both smiled at her," Barr says.

"Sometimes a smile can change your life, can change your whole world," Sanders says.

"Ain't nothing but the grace of God," says Moore. "It could have been way worse."

Both students say they are grateful the woman was okay. She was taken to a hospital in serious condition. Another victim of the crash was also hospitalized.

ABC7 Eyewitness News has asked Chicago police about the crash and any citations, but thusfar they have not provided any details about the crash.