Not all heroes wear capes — but at least one wears a Chick-fil-A uniform.
Thanks to some quick thinking (and stellar Heimlich-maneuver training), a 23-year-old employee at a Texas location of the popular chicken chain was able to save a choking customer's life — and he did it all in about 10 seconds.
The rescue effort was captured on the store's surveillance footage.
On Saturday, a man dining at a Chick-fil-A in Austin, Texas, suddenly started choking on his meal. He signaled to those around him that he was unable to breathe and a woman sitting at a table nearby began trying to help, grabbing the man around his waist in an attempt to perform the life-saving maneuver.
Soon, team leader Hunter Harris took over. His swift actions and proper technique allowed the stuck food to pop right out of the man’s windpipe in less than 10 seconds. Then he simply returned to his shift.
“I was working behind the front counter when I was alerted that someone was choking. I did what I think any of my coworkers would have done in that situation and ran to help,” Harris told TODAY Food. He also said that he was happy that the customer, whose was name has not been released, is “doing well.”
However, this isn’t the first time Harris has saved a life. A couple of months ago, he performed the Heimlich maneuver on one of his colleagues in the restaurant’s kitchen.
“One of our coworkers was choking on her saliva and Hunter did the Heimlich to help her,” Anita Duran, who works with Harris, recalled to TODAY Food. “Hunter is a hero.”
Many who have watched the Facebook video agree with Duran.
Chick-fil-A’s staff seem to have a knack for performing good deeds for customers.
Earlier this year, a Chick-fil-A in Fayetteville, North Carolina, made a military family reunion unforgettable for some regular customers: With the help of the restaurant's management team, a deployed serviceman sprang out of a borrowed Chick-fil-A mascot costume, surprising his pregnant wife.
In another kind gesture, a Chick-fil-A employee in Lubbock, Texas, waited for weeks to return $3 in change to a customer who left it behind by mistake.