Local News

Watch: Sister saves twin brother from choking with Heimlich maneuver

"She is amazing and our entire community is proud of her quick action. She is a hero."

Leicester Public Schools

By Eli Curwin

1 minute to read

A Leicester Middle School sixth-grader likely saved her brother’s life, as her quick thinking stopped her twin from choking.

Security footage of the May 12 incident shows Charlie Loverme stand up as he begins to choke on a piece of mozzarella cheese. He strikes his chest, coughing, before his sister, Amelia Loverme, notices and performs the Heimlich maneuver.

Video courtesy of Leicester Public Schools

“I’m going to die,” Charlie thought, he told CBS Boston. “It’s just scary and you just don’t know what’s going to happen next and it’s just really scary.”

As other students watched, unsure what to do, Amelia sprung into action, telling the news station, “it was just instinct.”

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“I didn’t really know what to do, I just feel like I had to help him,” Amelia said.

Now, the 12-year-old sister is being praised as a hero by local school officials.

“Thanks to the quick action of Amelia Loverme, she saved her brother’s life in the cafeteria the other day,” Brett Kustigian, Leicester’s superintendent of schools, told Boston.com in an email. “She is amazing and our entire community is proud of her quick action. She is a hero.”

Amelia was recognized by the Leicester School Committee last week, according to Kustigian. And Worcester District Attorney Joe Early Jr. will speak at a ceremony commending Amelia later next month, according to a spokesperson DA’s office.

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The Red Cross provides detailed instructions on how to perform support for someone choking.

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