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Quick thinking 3rd-grade teacher in NJ saves 9-year-old boy from choking on bottle cap

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Quick thinking 3rd-grade teacher saved 9-year-old boy from choking

Nine-year-old Robert was in math class when he needed a sip of water. He tried to take the cap off with his teeth, and that's when he started choking. Toni Yates has more on this

EAST ORANGE, New Jersey (WABC) -- One teacher's quick thinking at a school in New Jersey may have saved the life of a student.

Robert, a 9-year-old student at East Orange Community Charter School, was in his math class Wednesday when he needed a sip of water.

But he couldn't get the cap off with his hands.

"And then I started it with my teeth and then I was squeezing it a little and then the water pushed the cap to my throat," Robert said.

That's when Robert started choking on the cap.

"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.

And Ms. Jenkins acted immediately.

"He was pointing to his neck and he's all flustered," third-grade teacher Janiece Jenkins said. "He can't talk so then I just turn him around I perform the Heimlich maneuver and here we are."

Robert has been a student at the charter school since pre-K so, naturally, the school is his second home.

The school administration called Robert's mom to let her know what happened.

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