An 11-year-old boy saved a choking classmate this month and then sprung into action a second time that day when he escorted an elderly woman from a burning home, Oklahoma officials said.
For most people, let alone a child, the selflessness Davyon Johnson displayed on Dec. 9 amounts to more than a lifetime of heroics.
But Davyon’s mother, Latoya Johnson, said Thursday that her son has always demonstrated maturity beyond his years. He merely showed, she said, his true self.
“He’s always been there to help, whenever he can,” Johnson said. “He’s just still the same kid. It’s not like it’s made him any more or any less.”
Muskogee Public Schools detailed Davyon’s actions in a statement Dec. 15, saying community officials recognized him with several awards.
“The little boy was trying to open a bottle of water with his teeth, and the top got lodged in his throat. He was trying to find help,” Johnson said.
Students crowded around the child, Johnson said, and “my son pushed everyone out the way and went and did the Heimlich maneuver.”
Davyon’s second act of heroism occurred blocks from their home hours later, Johnson said. It was the late afternoon and getting dark when Johnson was driving her son home from wrestling practice and they smelled smoke.
At first, they thought nothing of it, Johnson said, but then they noticed that a home was burning.
Johnson parked in front of the home, honked her horn multiple times and called 911 because smoke was emanating from the back of the house, she said.
Davyon reached the front door and frantically knocked. Multiple people rushed out of the home, Johnson said. She thought the ordeal was over.
But as Davyon was moving toward her, Johnson said, an elderly woman with a walker stepped out of the front door.
At this point, the home was visibly on fire, and Davyon escorted the woman to safety, Johnson said.
She said she never feared for her son’s life, even though he put himself in harm’s way.
“I believe God is going to protect him, whatever he does in life,” she said, adding that she is beyond proud of her son.
His courage and desire to help will benefit him in the future, Johnson said. Davyon is considering a career as an emergency medical technician or a doctor, she said.
What Davyon did this month has been an emotional boost before the holidays, because his father died from complications of COVID-19 in August, Johnson said.
Davyon told his mom that his father’s spirit was with him Dec. 9, she said.
“That’s something that my dad instilled in me,” he told her.
- TODAY
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