Man Reunites With Good Samaritan Who Saved His Life When He Began Choking

A New York man has reunited with the diner who saved his life after he began choking at a restaurant.

Juan Camacho was having dinner with his wife at an Italian restaurant, Da Noi, on Staten Island, N.Y., Friday night when he started choking on a lamb chop.

“I couldn't breathe anymore,” he recalled to Inside Edition. 

His wife tried to do the Heimlich maneuver, but it wasn't helping working. 

It was then that Stephen Cresci, a firefighter sitting nearby who was having dinner with his pregnant wife, Jennifer, jumped into action.

“He couldn't talk at all," Cresci recalled. "His face was turning red, so I got right behind him."

Cresci was able to properly execute the Heimlich maneuver, and clear Camacho's airway. 

“The next thing I knew, I was breathing again,” Camacho said. 

Stephen and Jennifer, whose child is due any day, were actually planning to go to a different restaurant that night. 

“As I'm watching him I started to cry,” Jennifer told Inside Edition. "I didn’t know what was going on with the man and I was like, 'Oh my God! I hope he can do this.'"

In an interesting turn of events, it was the first time the firefighter had ever performed the Heimlich maneuver.

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