Mailman hailed as a hero for saving choking baby

GREER, S.C. (KGO) -- A mailman in South Carolina is being credited with delivering when it counted the most.

Chris Brown was working his route, when a frantic woman came running out of her house, pleading for help.

That woman was Stephanie Cooper. Her 11-month-old son, Eli, had swallowed a piece of plastic and was choking.

She tried everything to dislodge it, but it wouldn't come loose. Brown answered her calls for help.

"The mailman didn't even say a word," Cooper said. "He just grabbed my son and did the Heimlich on him and out it came."

"The baby started crying," Brown explained, "So I said, 'he's okay, mom. He's okay. He's crying. He's okay.'"

Cooper had nothing but praise for the mailman, calling him "an amazing man."

Brown, however, played down his heroics. He said, "I really don't feel that way because to me, I would have done it for anyone, or I hope someone would have done it for my children."

He says this was the first time in his 24 years with the U.S. Post Office that anything like this has happened.

Cooper is thankful that Brown learned the Heimlich maneuver during emergency training given by the post office.