In honor of Davyon Johnson’s bravery, the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office made him an honorary deputy.
People in Oklahoma are calling an 11-year-old boy a hero because his quick thinking saved two lives in one day.
School officials say that on Dec. 9, Davyon Johnson helped save a classmate who was choking and a woman with a walker who was trying to escape a house fire.
At a Muskogee Board of Education meeting on Dec. 14, Johnson was honored for his bravery by the Muskogee Public Schools, the Muskogee Police Department, and the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Department.
At the event, Undersheriff Greg Martin gave the sixth-grader a certificate that made him an honorary deputy for the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office.
In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said, “We are all so proud of you, Davyon!”
In an interview with The Muskogee Phoenix, Johnson was called a “double hero” by Principal Latricia Dawkins.
“He’s always said he wants to work as an EMT.
So he got to act on his desire and saved the young man right away,” Dawkins told the outlet. He also said that Johnson is a kind person who is liked by both his peers and his staff.”
Dawkins said that the first thing happened during the school day. The principal told the Phoenix that Johnson helped when one of his classmates at the 6th and 7th Grade Academy swallowed a water bottle cap while trying to take it off with his mouth.
Dawkins said that Johnson “sprinted over” to the child who was choking and did the Heimlich maneuver. “According to the people who saw him do it, the bottle cap popped off,” she said.
Johnson said that he wrapped his arms around a classmate and “kind of burped him” to explain what happened. He told the Phoenix that he learned how to do the Heimlich maneuver from YouTube and suggested that others do the same.
“If you’re ever in a situation like mine, you’ll know what to do,” he told the outlet.
But Johnson wasn’t done being brave.
After school, Johnson saw a woman with a walker trying to get out of a house that was on fire. The boy says that the fire started in the back of the house but eventually spread to the front.
At that point, Johnson stepped in.
The sixth-grader told KOTV that he saw the woman wasn’t moving fast enough and ran across the street to help her get to her truck.
Johnson told the Phoenix that the woman was disabled and was walking out of her house. “She was at her front door.
But I figured that, as a good citizen, I should cross the street and help her get into her truck so she could leave.”
The boy’s mother, LaToya Johnson, told the news outlet that her son’s actions aren’t all that strange. LaToya says that her brother, Wendell Johnson, is also an EMT. This ties in with the boy’s dream of becoming one.
“I’m just a proud mom,” she said.