A woman choking on a doughnut in a security line at JFK International Airport stopped breathing and turned blue, according to the Transportation Security Administration officer who stepped in to perform CPR and save her.
The TSA officer was working at the checkpoint in Terminal 1 earlier this week when he noticed a commotion in line. He saw a woman was choking -- her husband said a doughnut she had been eating got stuck in her throat -- and the TSA officer tried to use the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge it.
It didn't work.
Seconds later, the woman stopped breathing and went limp. The officer lowered her to floor and started to perform CPR.
“The woman started to turn blue. She had no pulse,” said TSA Supervisory Behavior Detection Officer Glenn Davis, who is also a 13-year veteran volunteer fire fighter with the Manorville Fire Department on Long Island.
Davis said he started chest compressions and told the woman's husband to pinch her nose and breathe into her mouth. Another TSA officer called 911 and contacted the Port Authority police, he said.
After about five minutes, the woman started to cough, said Davis, who lives in Suffolk County and has worked for the TSA since 2005. He watched the color come back into her face as she started to breathe again.
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Davis said he wanted to check the woman's level of alertness as she regained consciousness, so asked her what type of doughnut she had been eating.
“As she was telling me about the doughnut, I began to laugh,” Davis said.
The woman told Davis she was serious about the type of doughnut she was eating.
"I looked at her and told her I knew she was serious," he said. "I was just glad she was alive and could tell me about it.”
