Second-grader uses Heimlich maneuver to save choking classmate: video

A North Carolina second-grader is being hailed a hero after he used a lifesaving skill he learned on YouTube on a classmate who started choking during recess — in a dramatic rescue caught on video.  

Jayceon Branch, 9, was playing basketball with his friends at Raleigh Oak Charter Elementary on March 3 when his classmate, 7-year-old Donye Moore, keeled over and struggled to breathe as he began choking on a granola bar, according to footage obtained by WRAL News.

The older boy sprang into action without hesitation, reaching around Moore’s body to successfully perform two compressions of the Heimlich maneuver, the footage showed. 

“We were playing basketball, and he ate a granola bar, and we started playing longer until he started choking,” Branch told the local outlet. 

“I didn’t know he was actually, actually choking, so I just did my thing, which was a Heimlich. I learned it from watching YouTube.”

Branch said he was inspired to learn the rescue method after previously witnessing a teacher use the Heimlich to save the life of another choking student.

Teachers and parents have since praised Branch for his fearless quick thinking.

“He was a hero; he just saved a kid’s life,” Eric Johnson, executive director of the Raleigh school, told NBC. 

“We teach our kids to take care of each other, so this is really just a prime example of that. Jayceon just jumped into action so quickly. We’re really proud of him,” Johnson told WRAL. 

The boys’ parents were also impressed — and stunned — after watching the surveillance footage. They said the young students have developed an even stronger bond following the near-fatal incident.

“At first, I wasn’t understanding that he had to be given the Heimlich maneuver or anything like that,” Moore’s mother, Aja, told WRAL. 

“It was surprising. I’m just thankful his friend was able to demonstrate that on him.”

The school reportedly hosted a “clap out” for the young savior — with Branch walking the school halls with Moore as parents, teachers and students cheered them on.