New details released in choking death of 12-year-old boy at Yonkers school
Officials say at 11:39 a.m. at Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community School, a 6th grader was choking and became unresponsive.
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A heartbreaking incident at a Yonkers school is under investigation after a 12-year-old boy died following a choking emergency.
The incident happened around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community School.
School officials say the sixth-grade student was in a hallway when he began choking on food.
The boy became unresponsive, and emergency responders were called to the scene.
Officials say multiple people attempted to help and performed life-saving measures.
Wednesday coverage
"Everything that our folks were trained on were done as part of the emergency lifesaving, Heimlich, back slaps, CPR, multiple things were administered," said Yonkers School Superintendent Anibel Soler Jr.
Despite their efforts, the boy later died at a nearby hospital.
Police are now looking into whether a social media challenge may have played a role. Investigators say the so-called “one bite” TikTok challenge, which involves eating food in a single bite, is being examined.
Authorities say a donut may have been the food involved, but the circumstances remain under investigation.
Full News Conference from Thursday
Soler Jr. says he has heard allegations that the choking was the result of the TikTok challenge, but police haven’t come to any conclusions.
“I think it’s really important to know this situation — this tragedy — did not happen near the cafeteria. It happened four floors up, so I think that’s important to point out. We do have our nurses trained in that. I think it’s also important to know that we’re unaware of any cell phone footage or anything like that. We’re not aware of anything with TikTok. We do know that the Yonkers Police Department is investigating. If something like that manifests itself, you know, I’ll defer to them, but we have not necessarily come to that conclusion.”
Soler went on to say, “People are looking for reasons as to why tragedies happen. And you know, this was horrific in the sense that no superintendent, no principal, no teacher, no parent wants this to happen to their child. And you know, that’s where I really want us to remain. We have two parents who are hurting. We have 30 or more classmates who are hurting, who are trying to come together and heal and breathe, and that’s where our focus as a district will remain. We have crisis counselors here supporting students. We have a therapy dog supporting some of our students. We are wrapping our arms around the Sotomayor community, and we will continue to do so as long as it’s needed.”
Statement from the Yonkers Federation Of Teachers
Grief counselors are on hand at the school.
