A Hernando County family is showing gratitude to a school resource officer for saving their six-year-old son’s life. 

Nathan Tormey is back on the playground — a six-year-old full of energy — after a terrifying experience in the cafeteria at Challenger K-8 in Spring Hill.

“Nathan’s a warrior, so he has overcome lots of obstacles in his short little 6 years,” his mom, Kristen, said.

This week, the obstacle was a mouthful of nachos.

“And I took a bite out, and my friend David saw me choking. And he took a second to see if I could take it out by myself, but he was like 'no, you can’t get it out.'”

David ran straight to the school resource officer, Deputy Shaun Duval, who was closeby and immediately ran over to help.

“It’s distressing, especially to see a young child like that in distress. It’s very worrisome," Deputy Duval said, recounting what he saw that afternoon. "Luckily, thank God I happened to be right in that same area when it happened this time, so I was quick to respond.”

Duval has been the SRO at Challenger K-8 for six years, and he’ll be the first to tell you this past week's event was a first for him.

“We’ve had several medical events, but nothing of this nature of a child choking,” he said. 

But Duval was prepared. He performed the Heimlich maneuver to clear Nathan's airway.

“That was very scary,” Nathan said. For his parents, it was terrifying.

“When I received that phone call, knowing that he was okay, I was so grateful for Deputy Duval to act quick and be able to save our child’s life essentially," Nathan's father, Scott, said.

Nathan Tormey, 6, is back on the playground and Challenger K-8 after being saved from choking by a school resource officer. (Spectrum News/Katya Guillaume)