A Student Ran to Teacher Logan Stone Before Class Because a Classmate Less Than 30 Feet Away Was Choking, and It Was Not the First Time He Had Faced That Moment

Logan Stone teaches seventh grade and coaches soccer at Columbus Middle School in Columbus, Mississippi. On the morning of Oct. 27, just before class, a student tapped him on the arm and said a classmate was choking, less than 30 feet away. Stone gave four or five abdominal thrusts, the food came out and the boy began breathing again, according to The Dispatch.

It was not the first time he had faced that moment. Stone also used the Heimlich maneuver to save a child who was choking in 2022, his first year as an educator at the school.

The Hallway Rescue on Oct. 27

Teachers at Columbus Middle School are required to stand in the hallway outside their classrooms before the school day begins. That routine put Stone in the right place when a student approached with an urgent message about a classmate in trouble.

Stone found the student not breathing. The Dispatch reported that after four or five thrusts, the food that had blocked the boy’s airway came loose and he started breathing again. The student was then taken to the school nurse for observation. The newspaper did not name the student.

Stone described how fast the moment unfolded. “It all happened so fast,” he said, adding that his instincts took over and he did what he had to do. He also thanked God that he was “in the right place at the right time to save his life.”

The student who ran to Stone has not been named either. What the newspaper does make clear is the order of events: a child spoke up, a teacher responded within steps of the choking boy, and the food was dislodged within a few thrusts. The whole sequence took place before class began.

The First Rescue, in Stone’s First Year in 2022

The October incident was the second time Stone has performed the Heimlich maneuver on a student at Columbus Middle School. The first came in 2022, when he was new to the building and new to teaching. The Dispatch gave no further details about that earlier rescue, such as the child’s age or what had caused the choking.

What the paper did report is that Stone has worked at the middle school for four years. In that time, two students have been helped by the same teacher who knew what to do when a child could not breathe.

Stone traced his skills to home. His father is a firefighter and EMT, and he taught Stone first aid skills, including CPR and the Heimlich maneuver, when Stone was in high school, before he began coaching. Columbus Municipal School District also requires its coaches to learn first aid, including CPR and the Heimlich maneuver, so the training Stone received at home was matched by the training his employer expects.

How the Heimlich Maneuver Works, According to the Mayo Clinic

The Heimlich maneuver is also called abdominal thrusts. The Mayo Clinic says it applies when a person cannot talk, cry or laugh forcefully. If the person can cough forcefully, the advice is to let them keep coughing.

For an adult or a child older than 1, the Mayo Clinic describes standing behind the person (kneeling for a child), wrapping both arms around the waist and tipping the person slightly forward. The rescuer makes a fist, places it just above the navel, grasps it with the other hand and presses into the abdomen with a quick, upward thrust. The Mayo Clinic says to give five thrusts and check after each set whether the object has come out, using gentler pressure on a child.

Telling choking apart from ordinary coughing matters. Beacon Health System’s guide lists the signs of choking as hands clutched to the throat, panic or confusion, an inability to talk, strained or squeaky breathing, and lips, skin or nails turning blue or gray. Both guides say a person who can cough forcefully should be left to keep coughing, while one who cannot cough, talk, cry or laugh forcefully needs the thrusts.

Some programs teach alternating five back blows between the shoulder blades with five abdominal thrusts. The Beacon Health System first aid guide lists that sequence for a child or adult, and says the rescuer should keep alternating until the object comes out.

Both guides also address emergency calls. If another person is present, that person should call 911 while the rescuer gives first aid. If the person who is choking becomes unconscious, the guidance shifts to CPR. Infants under 1 need a different approach, based on back thumps and chest compressions, and pregnant people or people too large to reach around are given chest thrusts instead.

The Mayo Clinic’s guidance covers the same ground a first aid class does, which is why it matters that a teacher already knew it. A choking child may be unable to make any sound, so a classmate’s warning can be the only signal an adult gets. A school in Longview, Texas, saw the same pattern when a teacher and assistant principal used the Heimlich on a third grader who made the choking sign at lunch.

How Columbus Middle School Responded

Deartis Barber, the principal of Columbus Middle School, publicly congratulated Stone. The school’s website says Barber is a Memphis native who spent 30 years in Memphis public schools, all at the middle school level, before leading Columbus Middle School. The Dispatch, which credited the Columbus Municipal School District for the story, quoted Barber praising Stone’s “heroic, life-saving rescue of a student in crisis.”

Barber said Stone’s professional safety training made the rescue possible. He also said teachers in the district act as lifesavers and protect students’ current safety and future potential.

The Columbus Municipal School District serves the city of Columbus in northeast Mississippi and is separate from the county school system. Columbus Middle School is one of its campuses, alongside the high school, an intermediate school and several elementary schools. Under the district requirement, its coaches, including Stone, are among the adults trained in first aid, CPR and the Heimlich maneuver.

For parents, the account is a reminder of how much of a school day depends on adults who stay alert in hallways and know basic rescue skills. On Oct. 27, a student noticed, a teacher was standing close by and a classmate was breathing again before the nurse’s check.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: EXIT SIGN WORLD – CC0/Wikimedia Commons