Greer postman comes to aid of choking child

Chris Brown had always heard the adage, "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night ..." but he never thought it would also include saving a choking child.

"They might need to come up with a different name now," said Brown, flashing a friendly smile.

On a recent Friday, an "average day" for the 48-year-old Greer mailman quickly turned into a life-or-death situation and forged a bond between Brown and a little boy whom he'd never met.

Brown had just popped the mail into the mailbox at Stephanie and John David Cooper's two-story home when he noticed he'd overlooked a package. He stopped, picked it up and began walking it to the front door, thanking his luck that he'd noticed it before getting too far away.

When he was about halfway there, Stephanie Cooper burst outside, yelling, her baby son in her arms.

A few minutes before, Cooper had been enjoying a quiet afternoon. Eli was snacking on cereal puffs and playing with the package just as he always did. Before she knew it, Eli had somehow torn off a piece of the plastic packaging and put it in his mouth.

Cooper attempted to sweep out the obstruction, but Eli swallowed it before she could get to it.

"He wasn't crying or anything," Cooper recalled through tears. That's how she knew her son was chocking.

Cooper said she grabbed Eli, turned him upside down and tried beating on his back, but to no avail. She thought she heard her husband pull up and began making her way outside, where she saw Brown walking up.

"At this point I'm frantic and crying and yelling for anybody who'd come," Cooper said.

Brown leapt into action, performing the Heimlich maneuver and dislodging the piece of plastic wrap from Eli's throat.

"It's been quite the week," Brown said, taking a break from his postal route to chat.

He is still in shock about what happened. When he thinks about it, the father of three said the experience still seems a bit like a dream. In a way, it was just reflexive, and he added, "There was no one else."

Brown has had many experiences in his life. He's served in the military, he is a Jan-Pro franchisee and runs the professional cleaning service in the evenings, and he is a 24-year veteran with the U.S. Postal Service. But never in his life, he said, has he been faced with a life-or-death situation.

"I've heard of (postal workers) saving folks out of a burning home or calling 911, but as far as our post office, I haven't heard of that," Brown said.

But "that," while not an everyday occurrence, does happen, said Harry Spratlin, district communications coordinator for the Greater South Carolina District of USPS.

There have been many instances of a postal worker saving the life of someone who has been in a car accident, or of helping an elderly person who has wandered from home, or of helping put out a fire. In fact, nationally, Spratlin said, there were more than 200 instances last year of postal workers helping in life-or-death situations.

"There are service people who go into neighborhoods every day for various reasons, from reading the meter to delivering a package for UPS, but only postal employees come to the same spot every day six days a week," Spratlin said.

"They're really enmeshed in the community, and they care about their customers, and they're involved with them."

Brown grew up in New York and began working for the U.S. Postal Service there. He transferred to Greer in 1993.

The day he came to Cooper's aid was a beautiful, sunny day, a relatively normal day, but with one distinct difference — the neighborhood, usually bustling with people, was notably empty. So there was no one to help Cooper when she realized Eli was choking.

Brown tried the Heimlich a few times before getting a response. On the last push, Eli vomited, emitting the obstruction that had been the source of all his distress.

The little boy began crying, and Brown knew he was going to be OK.

"Chris was like, he's OK, he's OK, mom, he's going to be OK," Cooper said, her voice full of emotion. "I just started thanking him, and we just sat there and looked at each other for a while. After that, I went in the house and called my husband, and sat and cried for like an hour."

Talking about the incident remains difficult for Cooper, but the family has something joyful to look forward to. This weekend, Eli will celebrate his first birthday. The family is planning a sailboat-themed party to celebrate.

Brown will no doubt be on their minds.

"I really wanted to get his name out there and just thank him for what he did," Cooper said, the tears flowing again. "Because I, ultimately, will never be able to repay him for what he did."

But Brown shirks any recognition or title of hero. He said it was just fortunate he was there at the moment the Coopers needed help, and he is thankful he was able to provide it.

"I don't really feel like a hero. I look at policemen, military men, firefighters, nurses as heroes," Brown said. "It was just something I did."