Video footage captures the heroic moment a brave third-grader saved his classmate from choking on a grape.
Eight-year-old Thomas Conley was sitting next to Isaiah Rodriguez in the cafeteria at Porter Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona, when he noticed something was terribly wrong.
“I heard him crying, so what’s going on? And for a moment I didn’t know what he was doing,” Conley told 12News.
“But eventually I realized he was choking, so I decided to just do the Heimlich.”
Without hesitation — and before adults could even notice the emergency — Thomas sprang into action and performed the life-saving Heimlich maneuver that saved his classmate from choking on a grape.
“It’s because I don’t want Isaiah to die,” Conley explained.
Porter Elementary School Principal Kathy Ray only learned of the incident after school when Isaiah’s mother asked to see the video footage.
Thomas Conley was sitting next to Isaiah Rodriguez in the cafeteria at Porter Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona, when he noticed something was terribly wrong
Without hesitation – and before adults could even notice the emergency – Thomas sprang into action and performed the life-saving Heimlich maneuver that prevented his classmate from choking on a grape.
Ray was shocked by what she saw – and especially emotional because it happened seven years ago after a student died of asphyxiation in the same cafeteria.
“I just had to keep watching it, it was incredible,” she told the outlet. “It was very emotional because seven years to the same month – almost to the day – we had a student, a special needs student, suffocated in our cafeteria who did not survive.”
Thomas wasn’t even in his usual spot that day, but his presence proved life-saving for Isaiah.
Additionally, the incident occurred the day after Conley’s mother discussed what to do in the tragic event of someone choking.
“Last night we were talking at the dinner table about how easy it is to choke on grapes,” Ray remembered Conley’s mother saying. “And it’s like every hair on my body stood up.”
The brave third grader is now being hailed as a hero. Local firefighters came to finish Conley during a ceremony at the school on Tuesday
Thomas simply told the crowd, “You shouldn’t be afraid to help anyone.”
The brave third grader is now being hailed as a hero. Local firefighters came to congratulate Conley during a ceremony at the school on Tuesday.
The Mesa Fire Department honored the young boy with a certificate of appreciation for his “heroic actions.”
Thomas simply told the crowd, “You shouldn’t be afraid to help anyone.”