A Dallas school bus driver is being recognized as a hero after saving a child who was choking on a coin, her quick reaction caught on camera.
Dallas Independent School District bus driver Raquel Radford Baker was substituting on a route the morning of Sept. 29 and had just parked the school bus outside Seagoville North Elementary School to drop off students. The video, captured by cameras inside the school bus, shows 7-year-old Preston Bell appear to put something in his mouth, immediately bend over, then walk toward the front of the bus.
As the child approached, Radford said he communicated, “There’s a penny in my throat.” Baker recalled that all she could think about was saving that child.
The video shows Baker, or as the student calls her “Ms. Rocky,” grabbing the child and taking him outside the bus to the sidewalk. An external video camera then captured her performing the Heimlich maneuver as she walked the boy toward the school building.
Baker had never performed the Heimlich before, but at that moment her first aid training kicked in. “God placed me there for a reason,” she told reporters.
Related: WATCH: South Carolina School District Spreads Awareness for National School Bus Safety Week
Related: Texas School Bus Driver Saves Student from Choking
Related: Watch: Bus Driver Saves Kids from Passing Vehicle
Related: First Student School Bus Driver Saves Choking Student
