Rick Lauterbach was celebrating his wife’s birthday at a Chinese restaurant in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, when a piece of food got lodged in his throat. Realizing he couldn’t breathe, he looked around and saw one man who he thought might be able to help. Fortunately, that man was off-duty firefighter Robert Sawyer Jr, who noticed Lauterbach wheezing and immediately rushed to assist. Sawyer performed the Heimlich maneuver, dislodging the food and saving the stranger’s life.
A pastor in nearby Taylorsville, Lauterbach described Sawyer’s intervention as divinely timed, noting that he walked in to pick up his takeout at exactly the right moment. He also expressed deep gratitude, saying, “It’s great to have people out there that know what to do, when to do it.”
For his part, Sawyer says that firefighters are never really off duty. Lauterbach caught his breath, the two men hugged and started talking, forming an unexpected friendship. Lauterbach says it turned into “something great,” and Sawyer says they may get together to dine together with both their families in the future.
Source: WDRB
photo: GETTY
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