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Hero high school basketball coach jumps into action and saves choking student's life
Image source: YouTube screenshot

Hero high school basketball coach jumps into action and saves choking student's life

A high school basketball coach is being hailed a hero after he bravely saved a student's life, KETV-TV has reported.

What are the details?

Riley Kelly, a freshman at Papillion-La Vista South High School in Papillion, Nebraska, had just taken a bite of his cheeseburger during Tuesday's lunch period when the meat and bun got caught in his throat, blocking his windpipe.

With shaking hands, Riley tried to chug down some milk to force the blockage through, but the milk ominously sat in his throat and he could not swallow it.

“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,” Riley told the station. “And this is the one time it didn’t work.”

The teen added, “I was drinking the milk, and I didn’t feel any milk moving I just felt the milk being held there in my throat. And I couldn’t breathe.”

Coach Joel Hueser — who was monitoring the lunch period — quickly jumped out of his seat when he noticed a nearby teen struggling to breathe.

"It was all so sudden," Riley said. "It was like a flash of lightning in my head but at the same time super slow ... All I remember is just, like, the fear. Next thing you know, I was being saved."

Hueser performed the Heimlich maneuver on Riley, and successfully dislodged the chunk of food from the teen's throat.

He told the station that any teacher in his position would have reacted the same way.

“Any teacher or coach would have done the same thing," the heroic coach insisted. "I just happened to be there"

Papio South coach saves choking studentwww.youtube.com

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Sarah Taylor

Sarah Taylor

Sarah is a former staff writer for TheBlaze, and a former managing editor and producer at TMZ. She resides in Delaware with her family. You can reach her via Twitter at @thesarahdtaylor.