Middle School Security Officer Saves Choking Student
Bethesda MD May 11 2019
A middle school security officer is being praised for saving a student who choked on his lunch Tuesday.
Freddie Davis, a five-year member of the White Oak Middle School staff, was standing toward the front of the school’s lunch room when a group of students yelled and waved.
Davis ran to the group and found a red-faced seventh-grade boy choking and unable to breathe.
Davis grabbed the boy and performed the Heimlich maneuver — a first-aid procedure used when a person is choking — until the student coughed up a piece of chicken that had become lodged in his throat.
“I was just happy the kids took the situation as serious as it was. They waved me down and I am just glad I was able to respond in a timely fashion and get the kid home safe,” 35-year-old Davis said Wednesday morning.
The student was taken to the nurse and went home Tuesday afternoon because he had a sore throat, White Oak Principal Virginia A de los Santos said.
A graduate of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Davis said he has been working with children for 15 years between coaching basketball, running flag football programs and athletics clinics, but Tuesday was the first time he’s had to put his emergency training to use.
The school system does not keep data on choking incidents on school property, a spokesman said.
“You always get trained, but you never think you’ll actually have to use those trainings,” Davis said, adding he recently underwent recertification training. “Who knows what would have happened if I wasn’t trained?”
Davis, who lives in Laurel with his wife and 6-year-old daughter, has worked at Northwood High School and Rosa Parks Middle School, both in Montgomery County.
De los Santos, the White Oak principal, said she was also in the room when the student was choking and was “kind of in shock” afterward, but is proud of Davis for acting quickly.
The student is expected to be OK, she said.
The principal also pointed out Davis has built bonds with White Oak students, and they feel comfortable reaching out to him in an emergency.
“They knew exactly where to go to get help, she said. “It means the world to me to have the right person who knows what to do in an emergency – it’s everything, especially with something like this that is time-sensitive. This could have gone really badly for that student, but he is safe.”
Bethesda Magazine
