An 11-Year-Old Performed the Heimlich on a Classmate and Saved a Woman From a House Fire

When a student at the 6th and 7th Grade Academy at Ben Franklin school in Muskogee, Oklahoma, began choking on a water bottle cap and stumbled into a sixth-grade classroom, classmate Davyon Johnson recognized what was happening and immediately performed the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the obstruction.

Later that same day, December 9, Johnson noticed an elderly woman standing on the front porch of a house that was on fire. Johnson sprinted across the street to help escort her away from the blaze.

Had anyone else needed rescuing that afternoon, Johnson probably wouldn’t have hesitated. For his feats of heroism, the 11-year-old was recently honored by the sheriff’s office, the police force, and the board of education for his quick thinking in the face of two consecutive emergencies.

The choking student had been trying to loosen the cap with his mouth when it became lodged; Johnson said he learned the Heimlich on YouTube and “burped” the classmate. It’s not clear what started the house fire, though it appeared to be spreading to the front of the property when Johnson noticed the woman—who was using a walker—attempting to get away.

The recognition for these successive acts of heroism came during a board of education meeting where Johnson, a sixth-grader, was named an honorary member of both the police and sheriff’s departments. Johnson has said he hopes to become an EMT one day. Clearly, he’s well on his way.