CRAVEN COUNTY, N.C. — A school resource officer cleared a choking student's airway after spotting the emergency during lunch at Oaks Road Academy, according to three current North Carolina news reports citing the Craven County Sheriff's Office.
Cpl. A. Buck was eating in the cafeteria with students on Sept. 8 when she saw a boy suddenly stand and grab his throat. Officials said his face was turning red and purple, WCTI reported Thursday.
Buck intervened and cleared the obstruction from the student's airway. The school nurse then evaluated him, his parents were notified, and officials said he made a full recovery.
The emergency was visible in an ordinary lunch period
The account places Buck in the cafeteria with students rather than arriving after a separate emergency call. She recognized the student's sudden behavior and visible distress, then acted before the situation worsened.
A separate WITN report published Thursday morning identifies the same deputy, school and sequence. WITN also attributed the full-recovery update to the sheriff's office.
WXII published another account that identifies Buck and Oaks Road Academy and says the officer successfully cleared the airway obstruction before the school nurse evaluated the student.
Sheriff points to the range of an SRO's responsibilities
Sheriff Chip Hughes said the response demonstrated how quickly a deputy must think on their feet and highlighted the diverse skills required of school resource officers.
The rescue is a reminder that an SRO's day can move without warning from routine relationship-building to an immediate health emergency. In this case, proximity, observation and a prompt response aligned before the student lost more time.
ThinBlueNews is not naming the student, publishing his age or sharing any additional family or medical information. The article uses only the limited details that the sheriff's office made public through local reporting.
What the current public record establishes
WCTI, WITN and WXII agree on the central facts: Buck was eating with students at Oaks Road Academy, recognized that a boy was choking, cleared the airway obstruction, and transferred follow-up evaluation to the school nurse. WCTI and WITN report the parents were notified and the student made a full recovery.
All three publications attribute the underlying incident account to the Craven County Sheriff's Office. Their agreement is corroboration of the same official account, not three independent eyewitness narratives.
Sources and visual disclosure
- WCTI News 12 — “School resource officer helps choking student at Oaks Road Academy,” published Sept. 10, 2026 at 11:02 a.m. EDT.
- WITN — “School resource officer helps choking Craven County student,” published Sept. 10, 2026 at 11:06 a.m. EDT.
- WXII 12 — “North Carolina SRO saves choking student while eating lunch with kids in cafeteria,” published Sept. 10, 2026 and updated Sept. 11.
- Wikimedia Commons — “Empty school cafeteria.jpg,” by Three Sixty, dedicated under CC0 1.0.
Source boundary: each news report cites the Craven County Sheriff's Office. ThinBlueNews independently checked the publication metadata and factual overlap but did not add an exact response time, medical diagnosis or detail outside the published official account.
Visual note: the featured image is licensed contextual photography of an empty Massachusetts school cafeteria. It is not Oaks Road Academy, the emergency, the deputy or the student. No person, incident scene or documentary evidence was synthesized.
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