A governor’s work is never done.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu jumped in as first responder on Sunday, performing the Heimlich maneuver on a contestant in a lobster roll eating competition.
Several contestants were taking part in the Hampton Beach Lobster Roll Eating Competition when a man on stage began to motion that something was wrong. He hit his chest multiple times, but the crowd didn’t seem to notice.
“The gentleman at the far end, who I was kind of watching — I glanced over, I could tell very quickly, he took, took a pause — he was having trouble getting something down,” Sununu, New Hampshire’s four-term governor, told WMUR-TV, which first reported the incident.
When other people around the stage didn’t immediately repond, Sununu leapt into action, grabbing the man around the chest and performing multiple compressions, according to video of the emergency.
“It was crazy because it wasn’t so much the jumping in and doing it — I mean, that was wild in itself — but there was so much commotion,” said Sununu, who took action without even removing his sunglasses.
Very quickly, the food lodged in the contestant’s throat popped out.The contestant was identified as Christian Moreno by WMUR.
Amazingly, Moreno continued eating once the crisis was over, according to the governor.
“He went right back to the contest, which I couldn’t believe. He ate another seven lobster rolls after that,” Sununu said. “Right down the gullet.”
Hayley Kaufman can be reached at hayley.kaufman@globe.com. Follow her @GlobeHayleyK.