Grocery manager rescues child: I was just doing my job,' he says

On Monday, June 25, Jamarion Elam, 2, was climbing out of a buggy at Bi-Lo when a piece of candy got lodged in his throat. In a panic, his mother, Latasha Booker, asked co-manager Charlie Merritt for help. In a failed attempt to dislodge the candy, Merritt then rushed to get the store manger, Chris Bishop, for assistance.

"Mr. Merritt got my attention as I was watching the front end of the store. I hurried down the aisle and saw people standing looking towards the left and then back at me. Once I reached the end of the aisle at the meat case I saw the little boy who was obviously choking.

"I could tell he could still breathe, so I balled my fistunder his rib cage and hit him on the back," Chris Bishop said as he described the scene.

Bishop said he walked off after he stopped the boy from choking and later in the afternoon, Booker called to express her gratitude to the manager for saving her son.

"I was just doing my job," Bishop said. "I would hope someone would do that for my kid." (Story and photo by Krystle Kvalheim)

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