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

EAST ORANGE, New Jersey — 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, was in his math class Wednesday when he needed a spit 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.

SEE ALSO | Crystal Lake South High School custodian credited with saving student’s life

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,” East Orange Community Charter School 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.