LAKE COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) – A deputy sheriff that has been hailed a hero for saving a choking woman at a local school was honored Thursday morning by Lake County Commissioners.

School resource officer Mike Reed was recognized for his quick action earlier this month.

The life-and-death situation unfolded at Auburn Career Center in Concord Township.

Mary Feathers, who cleans and sanitizes the building, was on break eating pizza when a piece became stuck in her throat and she couldn’t breathe.

“I mean, it was really quick,” said Feathers. “I was kind of panicking a little bit.”

You can watch previous FOX 8 coverage of the heroic act in the video below.

But she knew where to go and ran to a nearby office where Reed was eating his own lunch.

“It was clear she was in respiratory distress. I could tell that right away,” said Reed. “She already started to turn red.”

Deputy Reed, who has been with the department for more than 30 years, quickly turned Mary around and performed the Heimlich maneuver twice, immediately opening her airway.

“He just went around and it popped,” said Mary. “It was a sigh of relief.”

“She cried for a few minutes and I asked her if she was okay and everything, she caught her breath,” Deputy Reed said.

The SRO then followed Mary to the hospital to make sure she was OK, which she was.

She even returned to work the next day and shared the story with everyone at school and with the sheriff’s office, because she says Deputy Reed definitely saved her life. 

“I am so glad that he was right there because I don’t know what I would’ve done if he wasn’t there,” said Feathers. “He is a hero.”

Reed is has now been recognized formally.