Mail carrier saves life of choking toddler in South Carolina

GREER, SC -- A letter carrier in South Carolina saved the life of a choking toddler. Just working his daily mail route put him in the right place at the right time.

Little Eli Cooper, who turns one this weekend, was choking on a plastic wrapper, but his frantic mother's efforts to help him failed. That's when postal carrier Chris Brown came to the rescue and used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge it.

"I just turned him around and started beating him on his back, but it wasn't coming out," said Eli's mother Stephanie Cooper.

"The baby started crying so I said 'He's okay mom. He's okay. He's crying. He's okay,'" recalled Brown.

"It was no coincidence that Chris was here at that exact time," Cooper said. "He is an amazing man."

Brown says he learned the technique in a safety training class years ago, and in his 24 years as a carrier, this was his first time to use it.