A sixth-grader from Muskogee, Oklahoma, is being honored for saving two people’s lives—all in one day.
On December 9, Davyon Johnson, 11, was by the water fountain at school when he saw a seventh-grade boy choking. The student was opening a water bottle with his teeth, and the cap got lodged in his throat.
“I’m choking. I’m choking,” whispered the boy between gasps while trying to find help.
Luckily, Davyon was in the right place at the right time. As students started crowding around him, Davyon pushed everyone out of the way and performed the Heimlich maneuver. It took three thrusts before the cap flew out of the boy’s mouth.
Emergency medical workers arrived and checked him. Thankfully, he recovered and was fine the next day.
Davyon learned the life-saving technique on YouTube after being inspired by his uncle, Wendell Johnson, an emergency medical technician. He had wanted to be an EMT since he was six years old.
Davyon was a little shaken after the incident but went on with his day as usual. LaToya Johnson, his mother, picked him up later that day, and they got back on the road that evening to attend a church service.
That’s when the boy saved person number two.
Around 5 p.m., Ms. Johnson saw smoke coming out from a house. She didn’t think anything of it at first, but Davyon insisted they check.
“No, Momma, this is a house on fire,’” he said at the time.
Ms. Johnson turned the car around, and that’s when they saw a small fire near the back of the house. The people inside seemed oblivious to the growing fire, so Ms. Johnson honked her horn and called 911.
Meanwhile, Davyon got out of the car and frantically knocked on the front door of the burning home.
Five people in the house ran outside as they saw what was happening. However, a sixth person—an elderly woman using a walker—was struggling to escape from the home.
“She wasn’t moving fast enough,” Davyon recalled. “So I’ve got to kind of help her get to her truck because everybody was leaving.”
With Davyon’s help, the woman reached her truck. The sun was setting, and church services would start soon, so Davyon said goodbye to the stranger he had just saved and got into his mother’s car. He looked out the window and saw fire trucks arriving as they drove away.
Ms. Johnson said that her son merely showed his true self when he saved the lives of those people.
“He’s always been there to help, whenever he can,” she said. “He’s just still the same kid. It’s not like it’s made him any more or any less.”
Davyon was honored by his community for the impressive feat. On December 15, the Muskogee Police Department and Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office rewarded him with a certificate naming him an honorary member of their forces.
Muskogee Mayor Marlon J. Coleman also declared December 9 as “Davyon Johnson Day” in the city.
Latricia Dawkins, Davyon’s school principal, described him as “always willing to help, always just a friend to everyone.”
When asked about his heroic deeds, Davyon simply puts them as “the right thing do,” which is why he couldn’t understand all the recognition he’s been receiving.
“He said to me: ‘I don’t want everyone to pay attention to me. I kind of did what I was supposed to do,’” said Ms. Dawkins said. “I don’t think he actually internalized how important the feat was that he did.”
When Davyon was eight years old, he watched his father, Willie James Logan, rush into a burning apartment complex in Muskogee to make sure everyone inside was safe. He wasn’t a firefighter, but he chose to do the right thing that day.
Davyon said that’s something his dad has instilled in him. Sadly, he passed away from COVID-19 complications on August 16. He was 52.
Davyon only tells people about what he did on December 9 when he’s asked, but there was one person he wanted to deliberately share it with.
One morning, he went to the cemetery to see his father and tell him stories about that fateful day.
Good job, Davyon! Click on the video below to learn more about this story.
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