Heroic Teacher Saves 9-Year-Old Boy From Choking On Bottle Cap

A teacher in New Jersey has been hailed a hero after her quick thinking saved the life of a 9-year-old boy who choked on a bottle cap.

The incident happened at East Orange Community Charter School when the third-grader, identified as Robert, choked while he took a sip of water during his math class last week. When Robert could not twist the cap of the bottle with his hand, he used his teeth to get it opened.

"Then I was squeezing it a little and then the water pushed the cap to my throat," Robert recollected. "I was going to the sink trying to cough it out and I couldn't so I ran very quickly to Ms. Jenkins," Robert said in an interview with ABC NY.

The third-grade teacher Janiece Jenkins jumped into action when she noticed the flustered boy running toward her while pointing at his neck. Realizing the danger, Jenkins quickly performed the Heimlich maneuver on her distressed student.

After a few seconds of Jenkins performing the Heimlich, the cap popped out of the boy's mouth. "He was pointing to his neck and he’s all flustered. He can't talk so then I just turn him around I perform the Heimlich maneuver and here we are," Jenkins said.

Jenkins said she did not think much when he saw the boy in distress and was grateful that the training she received to do the Heimlich maneuver helped to save a person's life.

"I don't think that I really thought. I think I just was like, ‘He needs my help. Let me help him,’ and that's what I did," Jenkins said as reported by News 12 Brooklyn.

After the miraculous rescue, the school administration called Robert's mom and told her what happened. For Robert, who was attending the Charters school since pre-K, the school is like his second home and Jenkins is now his new superhero.

Choking is one of the leading causes of unintentional deaths in the U.S. Heimlich maneuver is a simple life-saving technique that helps to expel a trapped object from a person's airway. You can learn the step-by procedure of the simple first-aid technique here.