Victoria E. Freile

@vfreile

Greece resident Pavel Fesyuk has made a career of helping others, but on Tuesday afternoon he rescued a man choking at a traffic light.

Fesyuk, 32, a local exterminator and past contestant on the NBC reality show American Ninja Warrior, said he was driving on Averill Avenue in Rochester around 4 p.m. when he spotted a man hunched over in the road at Averill and South avenues. Once Fesyuk realized the man was choking, he said he pulled over, got out of his vehicle and asked how he could help.

"He showed me what he wanted me to do, to pat him on the back," Fesyuk said. "It didn't seem to work, so I grabbed him and did the Heimlich (maneuver)."

It wasn't the best version of the Heimlich, Fesyuk admitted, as he had not taken first aid or CPR training. But Fesyuk said he wasn't thinking about technique. He simply wanted to clear the man's airway.

Within moments, the man swallowed the blockage, Fesyuk said. "Anything was better than nothing," Fesyuk said.

The man, he said, was grateful for the help but was in a rush to leave the scene. Fesyuk said he does not know what caused the man to choke.

Fesyuk, who works for Town and Country Pest Solutions, said he was on his way to his last job of the day when he came across the man. He often shoots video on his phone while driving in Rochester, and was already recording when he spotted the man.

"Cars kept driving around him as he was choking," Fesyuk said, adding that he didn't think he'd done anything extraordinary. He shared the video with his boss and thought little more of it.

"I just helped someone in need," he said. "I guess that's not something people do anymore."

VFREILE@Gannett.com