SALEM, OR (KOIN/CNN) – Angelica Sandoval’s life changed in an instant when she choked on a potato chip a few weeks ago.
"All of a sudden I felt like I couldn't breathe," she said. "I wanted to ask for help, but I couldn't. I couldn't talk. I couldn't breathe."
A surveillance camera at Dede’s Deli caught the moment.
Sandoval grabbed some lemonade. It didn’t help.
“[I’m] just hoping and praying somebody would look at me," she said. Sandoval couldn’t talk.
A coworker tried the Heimlich. It didn’t help.
"I just felt my eyes like going back” Sandoval said. “I’m like, 'oh God, no, not like this.'"
Then, Marion County deputy Gregg Ramseyer rushed in to assist. He performed the Heimlich again.
He was only at the deli because he was investigating a hit-and-run outside and was looking at video from the same surveillance system that caught Sandoval choking.
After more than a minute, she could breathe again.
"He saved me,” Sandoval said. “It's a miracle he was there."
The two went their separate ways, but recently ran into each other.
“That's when I told him, 'thank you so much for saving my life, you're my hero' and he's like, 'no problem.'"
Their paths crossed at the right time.
"He saved my life and he gave my kids and my husband more life with me."
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