McKinney Officer Saves School Staffer Choking on Candy Cane

A school counselor in McKinney is thanking a police officer for saving her life.

The officer was in the right place at the right time when the counselor began choking on a piece of her favorite candy.

It happened around noon on December 14 at Dowell Middle School. 

Rayshana Adams and Officer Roy Baxter were working the 8th grade lunch shift.

On her way to the cafeteria, Adams said she grabbed a candy cane from the teachers lounge.

Minutes later, she choked on it when she started laughing at a video playing in the cafeteria.

Adams said she grabbed another teacher.

“I just started pointing to my throat because I couldn't talk,” Adams recalled.

Officer Baxter, the school resource officer of just three months, said he could tell immediately that Adams was choking.

“It seemed like it was lasting forever. I felt like I was literally going to die at Dowell Middle School,” Adams said.

Officer Baxter began performing the Heimlich maneuver. On the first pull, he said he could tell Adams began to breath.

“He's angel Baxter now and so everyday when I see him I say 'hey angel Baxter' because I do feel like he was my guardian angel that day,” Adams said.

It turns out, Officer Baxter almost didn’t make it to work that day. He considered calling in because he’d just learned of a death in the family.

“Something was telling me that I needed to be here,” he said.

It isn’t the first time he’s saved the life of someone who was choking. A couple years ago, he said he successfully performed the Heimlich maneuver on a fellow detective who choked on a piece off food at lunch.

Officer Baxter said he hasn't been formally trained to perform the Heimlich. He believes he picked it up from his father who was a paramedic for the Addison Fire Department.

As for Adams, she now packs gratitude for lunch each day for an officer who brings more to the table than she ever knew.

“I'm just glad that she's okay and I’d do it again in a minute,” Officer Baxter said.

Adams said she still plans to eat candy canes year-round except now, she crushes them up first.

Officer Baxter will be honored at the McKinney ISD board meeting next week.