Bradley Airport Official Commended for Saving Co-worker's Life

A official is being commended for saving the life of a colleague who was choking during lunch in November.

Rollin Tebbetts, airport operations manager, noticed that Jack Chmura, airport operations specialist, was in trouble on November 1 when he rushed to help him.

“I  was talking with a colleague and I noticed he was turning four different shades of gray and reaching for his chest,” Tebbetts said Thursday.

Acting Transportation Commissioner James P. Redeker presented Tebbetts a letter of  commendation at airport’s board of directors meeting Thursday.

“It’s a rare thing to save a person’s life,” Redeker said.

Chmura described the incident in an email he wrote to the state Department of Transportation officials. Chmura said he was eating a ham sandwich in the operations office when part of it became lodged in his throat.

“I pulled at my tie and opened the top buttons on my shirt . . . I looked at Rollin and he asked me if I was choking. I nodded yes,” Chmura wrote. “I made the a squeezing motion over my ribs and Rollin took the hint and did the Heimlich maneuver on me.”

Chmura said the piece of his sandwich became dislodged and he started breathing again. The incident lasted about 30 seconds.

"But thanks to Rollin's quick thinking, I am able to write this email to you," Chmura wrote.

Tebbetts said Thursday he’d never done the Heimlich maneuver before. Chmura joked that Tebbetts really wanted to grab him because he is a Yankees fan and Tebbetts is a Red Sox fan.