Video captures Dallas ISD bus driver saving choking 7-year-old student
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) — On Sept. 29, bus driver Raquel Radford-Baker began her shift just like any other.
"Miss Rocky," as the kids call her, is serious about safety. "They're all my babies, every last one of them."
She was filling in for another bus driver that day. But as it turns out, she was in the right place at the right time.
Radford-Baker was about to drop off students at Seagoville North Elementary School when something went wrong—all of it caught on surveillance video.
Video from inside the bus showed 7-year-old Preston Bell put something in his mouth. Moments later, he dropped down between the seats before heading toward his bus driver.
"He mentioned something about a penny and I immediately said, 'Penny?' I just grabbed him, ran down the stairs with him...on my way to the sidewalk I was actually performing the Heimlich maneuver," Radford-Baker explained.
The student was choking.
"The whole entire time I'm saying, 'Baby, breathe. I got you. Breathe,'" she continued.
He was limp and blue in the face. That is when Radford-Baker spotted a parent and asked her to call 911.
"All I could think of was, I have to save this baby. I have to save him," she said.
A veteran, Radford-Baker said she's never performed the Heimlich before, but in that moment—her training kicked in.
"I was nervous at the time, I was. But I just couldn't panic," she siad. "All I said to myself was, 'God, help me. Help me save this baby."
She didn't even realize when a quarter flew out of Preston's mouth.
"The lady said, 'Ma'am, there's a quarter there,' and I'm still in shock because I'm still trying to work with him and he stepped to the side and said, 'Miss Rocky, I'm OK. I can breathe,'" Radford-Baker recalled. "It was a powerful relief for me because I just can't believe that I just reversed this whole thing that could have really went wrong."
Recently, she got a chance to meet Preston's mom. As a mother-of-three herself, she understood how his mom was feeling.
"She was just so thankful, grateful—it was just a relief," said Radford-Baker. "I did put myself in her shoes and I told her I could only imagine how she felt."
on Friday, her supervisors honored her with awards for her heroism.
"I'm still in shock. I really can't believe that this actually happened," said Radford-Baker. "I didn't really realize what a big impact I had."
She doesn't know how she got the courage to do what she did that day, but she knows this:
"I feel like God placed me there for a reason...I mean, if I wasn't there, I don't know what the other driver may have done."
