Young Police Officer Hailed As Hero After Reviving Choking Woman

Three dozen adults and several children were at the affair at Banchetto Feast on Center Avenue on Saturday when Rosenbauer began choking, said Kevin Saul, whose mother-in-law was the guest of honor.

“I had a plate in my hand at the buffet when someone said something about a woman choking. I turned around and saw her right there in the middle of the floor. She was standing for a minute, then she just went down," said Saul.

“People were standing over her. She was blue,” he added.

Kneeling next to Rosenbauer was Theresa Mondo, a nurse who was visiting from Massachusetts.

While she worked on the unconscious woman, a hostess handed Saul a cell phone so he could tell a 911 dispatcher exactly where they were. Saul, whose brother, Bob, is a Westwood police detective, said he immediately headed toward the front door — to find Westwood Police Officer Scott McNiff running in.

- Scott McNiff

McNiff and Mondo propped up the unconscious woman and tried a half-dozen or so Heimlich thrusts, with no success, he said.

After several dozen tries, Rosenbauer gasped.

McNiff and Mondo then turned her on her left side and strapped on a high-flow oxygen mask, which McNiff had asked Saul to fetch from his patrol car earlier.

Rosenbauer began breathing normally, the color returning to her face. Then she opened her eyes, he said.

Ambulance workers took her out, and an obviously relieved McNiff left to a standing ovation, Saul said.

“Three other people attempted the Heimlich and they were not successful,” “Marge” Rosenbauer explained. "I wasn’t going to make it if he didn’t show up.”

“I am going to call the chief of police in Westwood to let him know how much credit this young police officer deserves,” she added.

“I could just see it,” Rosenbauer said. “Someone would ask, ‘What did she die of?’ And then someone would say, ‘She died from a piece of meat stuck in her throat.’ Can you imagine? That didn’t happen because of him.”

“I take my hat off to him,” Saul added. “These police officers never know what they’re going to walk into from one moment to the next. I don’t know how they do it. One minute you’re having a cup of coffee, the next you’re trying to save someone’s life. That’s difficult.”

ORIGINAL SOURCE

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