Police Officer Rescues Man In Choking Incident 

By Andrew Gorosko

As members of the Newtown Rotary Club were sitting down to eat dinner at The Inn at Newtown on Main Street at a recent club meeting, police Officer Felicia Figol realized that a club member had started choking on some food that he had eaten.

She quickly rose from her seat and assisted another person who was giving back blows to the choking man, but the man in distress could not breathe.

Realizing that the back blows were insufficient, Ofc Figol then performed the Heimlich maneuver on the man in distress.

Following three Heimlich thrusts, the piece of meat that had clogged the man’s airway became dislodged, ending the emergency and allowing him to return to normal breathing.

In the Heimlich maneuver, a rescuer stands behind the victim and exerts thrusting pressure on the bottom of the victim’s diaphragm to induce an artificial cough intended to forcefully expel an object lodged in the victim’s throat.  

The unidentified man declined to have an ambulance crew respond to the scene for an evaluation and matters then returned to normal.

Ofc Figol had attended the club meeting with Police Chief Michael Kehoe to explain Ofc Figol’s work as the police department’s K-9 officer, and also her work heading the Newtown Police Explorers Post 823. About 30 people attended.

Of the incident Chief Kehoe said, “Officer Figol sprung into action…She’s trained in first aid and very capable of doing that…She did a tremendous job.”

Rotary Club member Duane Giannini, a former Police Commission member who had served as commission chairman, also attended the meeting.

“The police provide a great value to the community. This is the perfect example of it,” Mr Giannini said.

Asked to recount the incident, Ofc Figol said, “It happened very quickly.”

The victim had placed both hands on his neck, showing that he was choking, she said.

Realizing that backslaps would not be enough to solve the problem, the police officer stood behind the man who is more than a foot taller than her and executed three sharp thrusts to the bottom of his diaphragm, lifting him off the ground in the process.

“This was the first time in my career that I’ve done the Heimlich maneuver,” she said.

Ofc Figol said she had used other first aid techniques in the past, but never had the occasion to use the maneuver named after Henry Heimlich, MD, who described the technique in 1974.

Ofc Figol said, “Everybody should know it. Everybody should be trained in it.”

Before becoming a Newtown police officer, Ofc Figol worked as a police officer for the Arizona Highway Patrol.

As the Newtown police dog handler, Ofc Figol oversees the use of German shepherd Baro. Baro is trained to track scents in searches for people, to apprehend suspects, and to detect the presence of illegal drugs.

Newtown Police Explorer Post 823 has about 25 teenage members, both male and female. The program provides youths with opportunities to explore possible careers in law enforcement through contact with law enforcement personnel. It is affiliated with the Boys Scouts of America.

Ofc Figol also is seeking to become recertified as a “drug recognition expert” for the police department. Such experts seek to categorize the type of intoxicating drugs that are affecting persons charged with DUI.