Every Tuesday, Clovis, California residents Katie Lane, and her 3-year-old daughter typically wait in their driveway to wave at ‘the man in the green truck.’ Garbage truck driver, James Bennett always smiles and waves back.
Lucky for Katie Lane, on the morning of February 11th, driver James Bennett arrived around 8:30 a.m. – right on schedule.
Lane had been making her daughter breakfast when she took all of her vitamins at once, swallowed, and took a bite of her eggs. Realizing that she couldn’t swallow – she took a swig of her orange juice, even spit out her eggs, but was still unable to get the lodged vitamins down/out.
She realized that she couldn’t inhale, that she and her daughter were home alone – and began to panic. When she looked up, she realized that Bennett was outside.
Bennett noticed the frantic mother choking, and scared little girl (Lane and her daughter were now in the front yard). The driver jumped into action, preforming the Heimlich maneuver on Lane – though the pills were not dislodged, she was finally able to breathe.
Lucky for Lane, the timing was good – and Bennett had been trained by the city (whom he’s worked for the past 13 years) to do the Heimlich. Bennett and Lane both credit the little girl’s concern for her mother’s condition to Bennett’s realization that Lane was in trouble.
Great work driver!
Sources
Clovis City Council
Clovis Independent