LI Mayor Saves Woman's Life While Out To Dinner

Quick thinking and decades of training allowed Rockville Centre Mayor Francis X. Murray to save a woman's life while he was out to dinner Wednesday night.

Murray and his wife were eating at the Rockville Links when a woman seated at a table nearby began to choke. The woman's husband tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge what was choking her, but he didn't know how to do it properly.

Murray, who has been an EMT with the Rockville Centre Fire Department for decades, stepped in. "I did it twice, and it popped out a big piece of steak," he said. "It's what we do. It's why we train."

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran also happened to be eating at the restaurant with her family that night and saw the whole thing.

After performing the Heimlich on the woman, she and Murray both sat down to finish their meals.

A volunteer paramedic with the fire department since 1972, this is not the first time Murray has saved someone's life. However, it's the first time he's getting this kind of recognition for it.

"But when a mayor does something, it's news," he said. "A lot of other people do the same thing and you never hear about it."

Photo courtesy Village of Rockville Centre