A high school cafeteria camera captured a harrowing moment Tuesday, when a basketball coach jumped into action to save a choking student’s life.
Coach Joel Hueser was on lunch duty inside the cafeteria at Papillion-La Vista South High School in Papillion, Nebraska, when freshman Riley Kelly started to choke on a piece of his cheeseburger.
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At first, Kelly took steps to try to free the food from his throat — but to no avail.
“I just didn’t chew it all the way. I’ve been in situations like this before, where I try to wash it down because I have something stuck in there, and nine times of out 10, it works,” Kelly told KETV-TV. “And this is the one time it didn’t work.”
The teen said he had trouble opening his milk due to the panic that was “building up” amid his failure to dislodge the food.
“I was drinking the milk, and I didn’t feel any milk moving I just felt the milk being held there in my throat,” he said. “And I couldn’t breathe.”
Gripped by fear, Kelly started to grab his throat and scream — and that’s when fellow students reacted. Hueser, being made aware of what was happening, jumped up, ran over, and started the Heimlich maneuver.
The entire ordeal was captured on security footage. In the video, Hueser can be seen saving Kelly’s life, and Kelly is naturally grateful for his valiant move. Watch the footage:
As for Hueser, he said any teacher or coach would have done the same.
“Every two years, when we have to do CPR, I’m like, ‘Ugh, really, we have to do this again?'” he said. “And it paid off this time.”
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