New Hampshire governor helps save man choking on lobster roll
HAMPTON BEACH, NH — New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu came to the aid of a contestant choking on a lobster roll during an eating contest at a seafood festival, using the Heimlich maneuver after the man signaled for help.
The competitor, Christian Moreno, recovered and resumed eating on stage during the competition on Sunday.
Moreno was one of six contestants in the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival contest. They had 10 minutes to eat as many lobster rolls as possible. The New England sandwich is traditionally filled with lobster, celery and mayonnaise and served on a hot dog-style bun.
“I’m aiming for at least 20,” Moreno, of Nashua, said in a video report before the competition began, saying he had been studying competitive eater Joey Chestnut, known for his hot dog eating contests.
Moreno sat at the end of a long table, near where Sununu stood watching from the side of the stage after speaking to the audience earlier.
Standing, Moreno had eaten about two lobster rolls when he began choking and beating his chest, video footage showed. Sununu ran outside moments later, threw his arms around Moreno and began punching him in the stomach. He did several before emergency responders took over. WMUR-TV reported.
Messages were sent Monday to Sununu’s office and to Moreno seeking comment.
“It was crazy because it wasn’t so much jumping in and doing it — I mean, that was wild in itself — but there was so much commotion,” Sununu, a popular Republican governor who is not running for re-election for a fifth term, told the station.
Moreno, who was not wearing his glasses, did not know that it was the governor who had helped save him.
“My desk guy came up to me and made a joke. And he was like, ‘Oh, I bet no one else can say they’ve gotten the Heimlich from the governor before.’ And I looked at him and I was like, ‘That was, that was the governor?’” Moreno said.
Moreno recovered and returned to the competition. He didn’t win, but he did eat a total of nine lobster rolls.