Jerrell Freeman was in the right place at the right time Sunday, saving the life of a man who was choking by performing the Heimlich maneuver at the Austin airport.
The Bears linebacker was returning to Chicago for training camp. When he received a text message indicating that his flight was delayed, he headed to a restaurant for lunch.
"I was just sitting down trying to enjoy a nice little chopped brisket sandwich," Freeman told "Inside the Bears" co-hosts Anthony Adams and Lauren Screeden. "The guy was sitting a couple seats down from me. He stood up abruptly. No one knew what was going on. It looked like he had forgot something. He was frantic."
A woman first tried to give the man, whose name is Marcus Ryan, the Heimlich maneuver. But she was too small to help him. That's when the 6-foot, 236-pound linebacker stepped in.
"She was a little small lady and she wasn't budging him at all," Freeman said. "I ran around there and gave him a couple of them, a couple of Heimlich maneuvers."
Freeman was able to dislodge the brisket the man was choking on. After the incident, the Bears linebacker tweeted a photo of the two.
Freeman had never performed the Heimlich maneuver on anyone, saying he learned about it in elementary school and remained aware of it because his mother is a nurse.
"You never really expect to use it," he said.
