'I Just Went Into Dad Mode': Danvers Man Saves Choking Boy
DANVERS (CBS) - You are driving down the road and you spot an emergency. What do you do? Some people drive right by, but quick action by a man in Danvers means a young boy is alive today.
"I was coming down right about here," says Devin Teriault driving down Maple St. in the truck he uses doing plumbing and heating work for the Cranney Company in Danvers. "I was driving back to the shop. I saw two kids on the side of the road. One of them was waving his hands over his head trying to get my attention."
What he saw was a 12-year-old boy in big trouble. "He looked pretty pale, kind of blue, so I pulled over and his friend is like, he's choking, he's choking," Devin recalls. "At that point I grabbed him and starting giving him a Heimlich."
After about a half dozen tries, it worked. "I got a gasp of air out of him and he started breathing again. It was huge," he says.
Devin has no formal emergency training. "I'm actually a father myself and I can only imagine my son choking. So I just went into dad mode, and helped him out as fast as I could. I'm thanking God that he's here today and I'm here today and everything worked out because it could of went a lot different," Devin says.
Devin says the 12-year-old was choking on a piece of cake. He doesn't know the boy's name but would certainly like to meet him again under less frightening circumstances.
And get this. Not long after WBZ talked to him, Devin was in his truck heading to a job when he saw a car crash and catch on fire. He pulled over, grabbed his fire extinguisher and put it out. The guy's on a roll.
