Video shows Gwinnett Co. police officer save man choking at a restaurant

Surveillance video shared by a Gwinnett County restaurant showed a police officer who rushed into action to help save a customer who was choking, using the Heimlich maneuver.

According to the police department, Sgt. Jerrald Leak noticed the man choking and began doing an abdominal thrust until his airway cleared.

“Once we started having verbal communication, that’s when I knew he was breathing,” Leak said.

The frantic seconds were caught on surveillance at the Golden Corral on Satellite Boulevard.

Leak said this wasn’t the first time he’s used the Heimlich maneuver, and credits the training he’s received through work for teaching him what to do.

“We get scenarios all the time where we have to react to something that we don’t necessarily see,” he said. “Then, we turn around, and we’re faced with it, having to make decisions. So, it helped having that basic life-saving training.”