Hero Bus Driver Saves 6-Year-Old Boy From Choking On Coin

"He was just red and gasping for air."

Oklahoma school bus driver Ginger Maxville leapt into action when a 6-year-old boy started choking on a coin.

She got out from behind the wheel, lifted little Cameron into the aisle and performed the Heimlich maneuver. As the boy's face turned red, the Mannford Public Schools employee repeatedly pressed into his abdomen.

After a few moments, she eventually got him to cough up the coin, and it rolled onto the floor.

The dramatic incident was captured by a surveillance camera on the bus, and the footage is now going viral.

Maxville, who is also a special needs teaching assistant at Mannford Public School, said she initially thought Jansson was messing around.

"I thought he was just teasing me and I thought he was just not following my instructions and not sitting down," she told KTUL-TV.

But she soon realized the youngster was being deadly serious when his sister, who was sitting next to him, said she thought he'd swallowed a coin.

"I made sure the bus was secure, went back and grabbed the student," Maxville, who'd just let another student off the bus, told ABC News.

"He was just red and gasping for air." It's the first time Maxville has used the life-saving technique in her 17-year career.

"I was just surprised that this was happening and I thought I got to see if I was really paying attention when I had my training and it paid off," she told news station WEAR.

The youngster later asked if he could keep the coin. Maxville agreed, but on one condition: that he never swallowed it again.

The boy's mom, Robin Jansson, said he was now back to his happy self, and had nothing but praise for Maxville. "She just really is an angel in our eyes," she told NewsOn6.com.

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