Choking Woman Saved By Morris Co. Eatery Employee

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — When 21-year-old PrimoHoagies worker Danielle Buccielli realized a customer she had served had started choking in the restaurant, she acted quickly to perform the Heimlich maneuver, potentially saving a woman's life.

Buccielli's Thursday shift at PrimoHoagies in the Rockaway Townsquare Mall complex began like any other.

When the customer arrived at around 11 a.m., it was a typical afternoon, according to Buccielli, who has worked at PrimoHoagies for almost one year. "It was just me and my other co-worker here, so I took her order and made her sandwich and she was fine for about five to ten minutes," Buccielli said.

Buccielli, who started working at the restaurant in the fall of 2021, said she was assisting another customer with a to-go order when she noticed the woman trying to take a drink of water and being unable to keep it down.

"She could not get it down and kept spitting it up. She came running up to the counter and was pushing on her stomach and trying to say something, but nothing was coming out. At that moment, the adrenaline kicked in, and I ran around the counter and gave her the Heimlich maneuver," Buccielli said.

Buccielli was able to successfully dislodge the food stuck in the woman's throat and offered to call an ambulance, which the woman politely declined, Buccielli said.

"I gave her a bottle of water and we made sure she sat and took a couple of deep breaths, and she ended up sitting with us for about half an hour before she left," Buccielli said. "Afterward she was crying and just kept thanking me. She kept saying, 'you saved my life.'"

The 21-year-old said that she had taken first aid training several years ago when she was a teenager and preparing to join her local fire department as a volunteer.

"I joined the fire department when I was 16 and we get retrained for CPR every two years, and when I was 14 I did two years of a public safety academy that trained us and gave us a background in things like putting a tourniquet on and how to do CPR and the Heimlich maneuver," Buccielli said.

Buccielli stated that, despite her preparation, this was her first time performing the Heimlich maneuver on a live person.

Following the incident, PrimoHoagies officials announced that they plan to honor Buccielli with a $1,000 check for her quick action in saving their customer's life.

"It's nice for the recognition but at the same time it's not necessary, I'm just the type of person that wants to step in and help people when they need it," Buccielli said.