WATCH: Cop saves choking woman during traffic stop

TORONTO – A quick-thinking Michigan police officer saved a woman from choking during a routine traffic stop Saturday.

Kalamazoo police officer Jason Gates pulled over a vehicle after the driver reportedly ran a red light.

“I didn’t intend to issue her a ticket, but I didn’t think I’d be doing my job if I didn’t stop and talk to her,” Gates told Newschannel 3.

Dashcam footage shows the officer approaching the van.

“Hi, how are you going? Are you choking? You alright?,” the officer is heard saying. “Get out of the car.”

The woman is heard gasping for air.

“For the first second or so I thought she was just trying to get out of a ticket, but then I realized she was in respiratory distress,” Gates told the Michigan news station.

The nine-year veteran began to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre and successfully dislodge a piece of food that was stuck in the woman’s airway.

The woman is heard sobbing in the video as she wraps her arms around Gates, thanking him.

“I just feel like I just did what I’m paid to do.”