Co-worker Rescue
Often a choking person will move away from others out of embarrassment
Dave Kennedy
Sacramento, California
March 6, 1999
This incident occurred in West Sacramento on Saturday, March 6, 1999. Darrell was standing on the pavement next to the bellhole, which the crew had dug the prior day. There were three employees located at this same location. Darrell was eating a donut. In the process of taking a sip of coffee, when he started to cough. The donut lodged in his windpipe cutting off his air supply. He tried to clear the donut from his windpipe for several seconds, but was unsuccessful.
Darrell became scared and embarrassed so he decided to walk behind his welding truck to see if he could do something to free the lodged piece of donut. He tried for approximately 60-90 seconds, and was still unsuccessful. At this point he was starting to become weak due to the lack of oxygen. He moved out from behind his truck and got the attention of Dave Kennedy. Darrell motioned to Dave with hand signals, pointing to his throat and stomach indicating that he needed help. It appeared to Dave that Darrell wanted him to perform the Heimlich Maneuver.
Dave administered the Heimlich Maneuver with no difficulty. The lodged particle of donut was propelled out of Darrell's mouth with the first thrust administered by Dave. Dave noted that Darrell's bluish skin tone returned to normal as he became reoxygenated. Darrell had a resultant slight sore throat but no other adverse residual effects from the procedure.