Police: Trucker saved from choking by crash


READING, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania trucker may have saved his own life with an unintentional and very elaborate Heimlich maneuver.

Police say 55-year-old Richard Paylor, of Fairless Hills was eating an apple as he drove on a busy highway in Reading when he began choking Tuesday morning. Authorities say Paylor then lost consciousness and crashed through a concrete median.

The Reading Eagle reports investigators believe the apple was dislodged when Paylor smacked his chest against the steering wheel. Police recovered a chunk of apple from the dashboard.

Investigators spoke with doctors who backed up their conclusion that the accident dislodged the offending fruit.