Sergeant's Quick Action Helps Save Fellow Officer

Photo of Sergeant Taiwo Classroom instruction is typically not exciting. Sergeant Adeniyi Taiwo understands that and works hard to keep his class engaged.

Last week his students learned a critical lesson that training is incredibly important even if you don't anticipate you'll ever use it.

The alert instructor was teaching about 40 correctional officers at the Jester IV Unit in Richmond on October 31st when some of the students began motioning for help at one of the tables.

Sergeant Taiwo rushed to their area of the classroom where he found another correctional officer gasping for air. "His eyes were rolled up and he couldn't breathe," said Taiwo.

Instinctively knowing that the officer was choking on something, Sergeant Taiwo lifted him out of his chair and began administering the Heimlich maneuver. After about six abdominal thrusts, an object that was lodged in the officer's throat popped out of his mouth.

Sergeant Taiwo says he learned the Heimlich maneuver during his in-service training. He began working for the agency in August 2009 and has CPR/First Aid certification.

Choking is the fourth leading cause of unintentional injury death each year with about 4,000 individuals dying because they choked on an object. Experts say reacting quickly is the goal when someone is choking.

Jester IV Warden Alphonso James praised the sergeant for his actions "Mr. Taiwo exemplifies the agency core values and I am very proud to have him in a leadership role at the unit."

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