- Republican governor sprang into action when man choked at lobster-eating contest
New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu came to the rescue over the weekend, saving the life of a man who began choking during a food-eating contest.
Christian Moreno started signaling for help during the Hampton Beach lobster roll eating contest on Sunday.
Sununu said when he saw no one jumping to help the man who was tapping his chest, he sprang into action.
“The gentleman at the end, who I was watching, I glanced over at him and I quickly noticed he paused; he was having trouble typing something,” Sununu told WMUR-TV.
He continued: “I started saying, ‘He’s choking, he’s choking,’ and I noticed people weren’t responding. So I went ahead and started giving him the Heimlich maneuver.”
New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu sprang into action Sunday when a man began choking during a lobster roll-eating contest.
Video of the rescue was shared with a local news station and shows the New Hampshire governor performing the Heimlich maneuver on Moreno. It took five compressions before the lobster roll became lodged in his throat and he was able to breathe again.
Sununu said the contestant immediately returned to the competition after the incident and ate seven more lobster rolls.
“He immediately went back to the contest, which I couldn’t believe,” Sununu recalled. “After that, he ate seven more lobster rolls. He ate them all up to his stomach.”
Moreno told WMUR-TV that Sunday was her first eating competition and it wasn’t until she put her glasses back on after the competition ended that she realized it was the governor who saved her life.
Christian Moreno ate seven more lobster rolls after Sununu successfully administered the Heimlich maneuver. He recounted the events to WMUR-TV
Moreno said he didn’t realize it was the governor who saved his life until after the race was over.
“And lo and behold, the governor was the first to realize what was really happening,” Moreno said.
“My accountant came up to me and made a joke. He said, ‘Oh, I bet no one else can say they’ve gotten the Heimlich maneuver from the governor before.’ I looked at him and thought, ‘Was that the governor?'” she recounted of the events following the contest.
Moreno said that when he started choking he told himself ‘don’t panic’ and knew he was going to ‘get it out’ and ‘keep going’ in the competition.
The lobster roll-eating competitor said he plans to return next year for ‘redemption.’
