Central freshman Ian Brown talks about saving friend’s life

Freshman sprung into action when friend started choking at lunch.

About 15 minutes before he went to talk to a national news media outlet, Central High School’s Ian Brown was on WIZM discussing his heroics Wednesday. 

The freshman saved his choking friend’s life at lunch using the Heimlich maneuver.

The culprit to it all? A cheese curd.

“I just went and did it,” Brown said. “It was do first and think later. Afterwards, we were just like, ‘Alright, let’s talk about what just happened.’ It all happened really quick.”

The students were telling jokes at lunch when Will Olson started to laugh, then choke.

 

“We couldn’t tell if he was choking right away,” Brown said. “He had kind of a laugh with it. And then his face stared turning purple and I saw his hands go around his neck and I was like, ‘I need to get over here and help him out.'”

Brown learned the Heimlich from his training with the La Crosse Police Explorers Program, and it’s only further cemented what he wants to do in life.

 

“I’ve wanted to be a police officer for a long time and,” Brown said, “if anything, this makes me want to do it more because just the feeling afterwards knowing he’s alright, that feeling was just awesome.”

ABC World News Report put some dramatic music to the video, which was released by La Crosse’s police dept. earlier Thursday.