Gov. Chris Sununu saves man choking during New Hampshire lobster eating competition

New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu came to the rescue over the weekend to save a man’s life when he began choking during an eating contest.

Christian Moreno began signaling for help during the Hampton Beach Lobster Roll Eating Competition on Sunday.

Sununu said when he saw that no one was jumping in to help the man tapping on his chest, he sprang into action.

‘The gentleman at the far end, who I was kind of watching — I glanced over, I could tell very quickly, he took, took a pause — he was having trouble getting something down,’ Sununu told WMUR-TV.

He continued: ‘I started saying, ‘He’s choking, he’s choking,’ and I could tell people weren’t responding. So I just moved forward and immediately started to kind of give him the Heimlich.’

Video of the save was shared with the local news station and shows the New Hampshire Governor delivering the heimlich maneuver to Moreno. It took five compressions before the blockage of lobster roll was lodged from his throat and he could breathe again.

Sununu said that the contestant went right back to the competition after the incident and ate seven more lobster rolls.

‘He went right back to the contest, which I couldn’t believe,’ Sununu recalled. ‘He ate another seven lobster rolls after that. Right down the gullet.’

Moreno told WMUR-TV that Sunday was his first eating competition and it wasn’t until after putting his glasses back on after the competition ended when he realize it was the governor who saved his life.

Christian Moreno went on to eat seven more lobster rolls after Sununu successfully administered  the heimlich maneuver. He recounted the events to WMUR-TV

Moreno said he didn’t realize it was the governor who saved his life until after the competition concluded 

‘Lo and behold, the governor was the first one to notice what was actually happening,’ Moreno said.

‘My counter came up to me and, like, made a joke. And was like, ‘Oh, like, I bet nobody else can say that they’ve gotten the Heimlich from the governor before.’ And I looked at him, was just like, that was, that was the governor?’ he recounted of the events after the contest.

Moreno said when he began choking he told himself ‘don’t freak out’ and knew he was going to ‘get this out’ and ‘keep going’ in the competition.

The lobster roll eating competitor said he plans to come back next year for ‘redemption.’