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A TSA screener revived a passenger who began choking on a doughnut as she waited in line at a checkpoint at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday. This file photo is of a checkpoint at Newark Liberty International. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)

(Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger)

NEW YORK -- A passenger at John F. Kennedy International Airport was revived by a security screener after choking on a donut, the Transportation Security Administration said on Friday, National Donut Day.

At a checkpoint in Terminal 1 on Wednesay, TSA Behavior Detection Officer Glenn Davis noticed a commotion in the screening line and then saw a woman choking, the TSA said. He tried to perform the Heimlich Maneuver, but it didn't work. The agency said the woman's husband then told the screener that his wife had been eating a doughnut when it got stuck in her throat. The woman went limp and passed out.

Davis, a TSA supervisor who is also a volunteer firefighter in Manorville, N.Y., then lowered the woman to the floor and performed CPR, which succeeded in reviving her, the TSA said.

"The woman started to turn blue. She had no pulse," Davis said in a TSA announcement of the incident. "We tried CPR. I started with chest compressions and I instructed her husband to pinch her nose and breathe into her mouth."

While Davis was doing that, his TSA partner, retired NYPD cop Anthony Varvaro, called 911 and the Port Authority Police, and kept the scene clear.

"We worked on her for about five minutes," Davis said. "Finally, she started to cough," and regained consciousness.

"It was a good day," Davis said in an interview Friday with NJ Advance Media.

What Davis learned when the woman regained consciousness was that, technically speaking, it wasn't actually a donut she was choking on, but a Dunkin Munchkin.



"Glazed," he added.



Davis did not learn the woman's identity or where she was from.

The 51-year-old, 10-year veteran of the TSA acquired his CPR training as a firefighter in the Long Island community where he lives with his wife and three sons. He was working in the retail industry when he joined the Manorville Volunteer Fire Department 13 years ago in honor of his father, a retired NYPD officer who had recently passed away. He joined the TSA three years later.

Wednesday was not the first time Davis used his lifesaving skills while on the job with the TSA. While screening at MacArthur Airport in Iselip, N.Y., a few years ago, Davis said he performed the Heimlich Maneuver, this time successfully, on a fellow TSA officer who was choking on a piece of steak.



"The right place at the right time," he said of both occasions.

National Donut Day is celebrated on the first Friday of June, an event that dates back to 1938 commemorating an act of kindness by a military doctor. It first popularized by the Salvation Army and later by the doughnut industry.

"Today might be Donut Day," TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in a statement. "But there's one woman who is probably going to say 'No thanks' if someone offers her one of the sweet treats today."

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow hin on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.