Video shows heroic boy, 8, saving his classmate from choking as he didn't want him 'to die'

Video shows 8-year-old boy saving his classmate from choking on a grape by using the Heimlich manoeuvre

Video has captured the moment where an eight-year-old US student saved his classmate from choking on a grape, saying he did not want his friend "to die".

Thomas Conley, a student at Porter Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona, noticed his classmate Isaiah Rodriguez was crying while they sat together in the school cafeteria.

"I heard him crying, so just like, what's wrong? And for a second I didn't know what he was doing," the 8-year-old told US news outlet KPNX.

"But finally I realised that he was choking, so I just decided to do the Heimlich.

"It's (all) because that I don't want Isaiah to die."

Giving words of inspiration, he said that no one "should be scared to help somebody".

Without alerting teachers, Thomas quickly performed the Heimlich manoeuvre, saving his classmate from choking within seconds.

Headteacher Kathy Ray only learned about the incident after Isaiah’s mother told the school that her son said a classmate had saved him from choking during lunch.

Ray had to check CCTV footage to see what had happened.

She said: "I actually didn't hear about it until after school, when Isaiah's mom came and said, hey, I heard this story that I my son was choking on a grape, and a kid gave him the Heimlich

"We pulled the camera. I had to just keep watching it. It was incredible. Isaiah wanted to call Thomas's mom, and he's the one who told her.

"Thomas was very nonchalant about it. He was like, Well, my friend Isaiah needed my help. Like, no big deal. You know, like you just saved his life. It's a big deal."

Headteacher Kathy Ray described Conley's heroic act as a form of "divine intervention"

Conley also revealed that he was not even meant to be sitting next to Rodriguez that day.

"We got kind of mixed up for where we were sitting. So I ended up getting sat in the back by Isaiah," he said.

The incident happened seven years after a student with special needs died from choking in the school cafeteria.

Ray said: "Seven years to the same month, almost to the day, we did have a student, a special needs student, choke in our cafeteria that did not make it, and so it was very emotional.

"Just last night at the dinner table, we were talking about how easy it is to choke on grapes, and that's just like every hair on my body stood up then. That is amazing."

The eight-year-old is now being compared to heroes from Marvel comics.

He was honoured by local firefighters with a certificate during a school ceremony.

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