Allen Kee/ESPN Images(NEW YORK) — NFL linebacker Jerrell Freeman had no idea he was about to be a hero in an Austin, Texas airport just days before Chicago Bears training camp.
Eating in the airport on Sunday, Freeman spotted another man, Marcus Ryan, shoot up out of his chair at the Salt Lick Taco Bar.
It looked “like he had forgotten something,” Freeman told the Chicago Tribune, adding that Ryan seemed “frantic.”
Ryan was choking. An older woman approached Ryan and tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver, but was unsuccessful. Then Freeman stepped in.
I “tried to squeeze the life out of him” Freeman says. He pushed in, then up. Still choking, Freeman tried again. His second attempt was a success.
Once Ryan was no longer choking, the two posed for a photo, which Freeman later tweeted:
CRAZY!! Just saved my guy Marcus Ryan’s life by using the Heimlich maneuver in the middle of the Austin airport! WOW Mom would be proud haha pic.twitter.com/yzgGw967iO
— Jerrell Freeman (@JerrellFreeman) July 23, 2017
Freeman told the Chicago Tribune it was his first time performing the maneuver.
Afterwards, Ryan went back to finish his meal, and Freeman joked, “I guess that was some good brisket. You can’t get between a man and his brisket.”
Freeman was in the airport before reporting to Bears training camp on Wednesday. The former Indianapolis Colt is entering his sixth year in the NFL, and his second in Chicago.
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