3-Year Old Calls 911, Saves Choking Mother

When his mother began choking on a lozenge in their Van Nuys condominium Tuesday, 3-year-old Jameson Rodgers knew exactly what to do. He called 911, just as his parents had trained him.

“My mom’s on the floor. She can’t breathe,” he told a Los Angeles Fire Department dispatcher in a calm and articulate voice.

Minutes later, three paramedics arrived from a station only a third of a mile away and found Peggy Rodgers on her hands and knees, on the verge of becoming unconscious. They dislodged the lozenge stuck in her throat, authorities said. She did not need to be hospitalized.

Jameson’s parents said they taught him how to call 911 about a year and a half ago when the mother was in the midst of a difficult pregnancy. They placed the phone within easy reach and had him practice making the call with the phone line unhooked, said his father, Michael Rodgers--son of country-pop singer Jimmie S. Rodgers.

“I didn’t realize he had called 911 till I heard sirens,” the mother told a news conference that fire officials called to honor the boy. “He kept saying, ‘It’s OK, mom. They’re on their way, they’re on their way.’ ”