Martinez Student Saves Classmate From Choking

Trey Harbert is a “hero.”

That's according to Emmanuel Marte Gil, who said the seventh-grader saved his life by performing the Heimlich Maneuver on him Tuesday while he was choking on a piece of chicken during lunch at the Romeoville school.

“We’re extremely proud of Trey,” said Martinez Principal Sarah DeDonato.

“We’re glad Trey was there to help out.”

“Trey saved my life,” Emmanuel said. “I swallowed the chicken and it stuck in my throat. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t talk. I was hoping someone would save me. I was scared.”

“I was talking to some of my other friends and I turned to tell Emmanuel something and all I see is his face turning red and him making the choke sign,” Trey recalled. “I asked him if he could talk. He shook his head no. I asked him if he could breathe. He shook his head no.”

Trey followed school procedure and immediately told a lunchroom supervisor who ran to get one of the deans on duty in the lunchroom.

“While she was getting a dean, I went back and his face was turning purple so I thought it’s now or never,” Trey said. “I gave him the Heimlich Maneuver as best as I know it.”

Instead of the chicken popping out of Emmanuel’s mouth, Trey’s extra force provided some much-needed room for the food to clear Emmanuel’s wind pipe, allowing him to swallow it.

“It was so deep in his throat and it was ready to be liquified that it went down instead of coming out,” theorized Trey, who admits to being an avid follower of the Science Channel. “Afterwards I patted him on the back so he could cough and get all that excess air out because something like this keeps the air in and that can make you feel bloated and it could ultimately give you internal bleeding.”

Emmanuel, whose family moved to Romeoville this past summer, said he and Trey have been good friends since the start of the school year. Trey, who has been in Valley View schools since kindergarten, says “we just clicked.”

“I’m glad he was there,” Emmanuel said. “He’s a hero.”