Lifeguard Saves Baby’s Life at Jersey Shore

A quick acting lifeguard saved a baby's life on Friday in Seaside Heights.

Peter LaQuaglia, 20, had gone up to the boardwalk on his lunch break to grab some slices of pizza (they stay close, even when on break, incase of an emergency), when he heard a woman yelling that there was a baby choking a few stores down. He sprung into action, dropped his pizza on the boardwalk, and ran to help.

A nightmare was unfolding....a grandmother was desperate to get her grandson breathing again. LaQuaglia told NJ.com, that he grabbed the child, flipped him on his knee, and did the Heimlich maneuver on the infant.

"I was hitting him on the back. I was careful, and he coughed it up," LaQuaglia said.

The hero lifeguard then made sure the infant's airway was clear by laying him on his back on the boardwalk and doing a finger sweep. The baby had been choking on a plastic ring that came off a water bottle, he said. Scary.

By that time, word had spread and police, EMS, and other lifeguards were responding to the scene, with a defibrillator and oxygen - but, thankfully, the baby was ok. Phew.

Happy he could help, LaQuaglia headed back to his lifeguard stand to finish out his shift. All in a day's work. Wow.