'Car Wreck Saves Life Of Choking Man'

[10-42Adam]

Car wreck saves life of driver choking on onion ring

By J. STAAS HAUGHT, The (Vineland, N.J.) Daily Journal



UPPER DEERFIELD, N.J. – Hunger pains turned quickly into real pain for Bryan Rocco on Tuesday afternoon.

The 43-year-old Vineland man wasn't badly injured in the one-car crash on Landis Avenue near Morton Avenue, but instead walked away with one heck of a story.

It turns out his wreck may have saved his life.

"I was on my way back to the office and stopped at Burger King and bought a chicken sandwich and onion rings," the foreman for DJ's Painting in Vineland said Tuesday evening. "I started to choke on one of the onion rings and then I guess I just blacked out."

His company-owned Scion swerved and crossed the road, hit a curb and then struck a tree.

"Next thing I knew, when I came back to," he said, "I was on my side, facing the opposite direction."

And alive.

The air bag apparently dislodged the bite of onion ring stuck in Rocco's throat.

"The whole thing caught me by surprise," he said. "I was going out, blacking out and then I'm awake."

Aside from a cut on his head, a few bumps and bruises and a swollen chin, Rocco made it out relatively unscathed.

His dignity, though, might take a hit when he gets back to work.

"Oh, I know I'm going to hear it," Rocco said. "It's OK. It is kind of strange."

[Ducky]

They say that fast food is bad for you, but damn, I generally think more of a delayed reaction than that.

[Buttercup]

I wonder if he was also using his phone while he was eating.