BOSSIER PARISH, La. (KSLA) – A Bossier deputy recently saved the life of a school employee who nearly choked to death.

Accountant Sheila Rivers remembers that intense moment.

“It was around lunchtime and I’m going to go heat up my chicken that I had for my salad, I’m trying to eat healthy, do the right things. And so I put a piece of cauliflower in my mouth waiting to reheat my chicken, and I chewed it a bit and swallowed it, but it stuck,” she said.

That’s when Rivers knew she was in trouble.

“I couldn’t see, I couldn’t breathe. And I honestly thought, ‘Okay, that’s it. This is how I hang out, in the hallway of Airline High School,” she said.

Surveillance video showed Rivers warming up his lunch. Moments later, she grabbed her throat and motioned for help. Within seconds, Deputy Matthew Regers came to his rescue.

“I gave him a b-line, I didn’t think twice about it. I just went straight to her and started doing the Heimlich,” he said.

Rivers said she wouldn’t be here without Rogers.

“I survived breast cancer, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. And now I survived the strangled death thanks to Deputy Reger,” Rivers said.

“It was just by the grace of God, in the right place at the right time,” Rogers said.

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