CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A Chesapeake inmate has been honored with a Citizen's Service Award for a good deed he did while serving time. It was quick thinking that resulted in a forever friendship between an inmate and a deputy.
Curtis Harrell, an inmate at the Chesapeake Corrections Center said he was in the right place at the right time while doing time. Over the summer, Harrell and a few other inmates were participating in a workforce program. It allows retired deputies to teach the inmates various skills so they become employable after their release.
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Harrell said one day, Deputy Robert Rensch was choking on some food he was eating. It was at the moment Harrell became a hero.
"At that time, I gave him the Heimlich," Harrell said. "It took a little while, but eventually he coughed up what he was choking on. It was the longest 60 seconds of my life."
Harrell said it was almost like fate that he saved the same man who taught him to save someone from choking.
Curtis said this was a first for him.
"That was the first time ever seeing somebody in that predicament period," Harrell said. "That was the first time I ever did the Heimlich."
Deputy Rensch said it was a lesson well learned.
"If I had been by myself, I don't know what would've happened," he said.
On Tuesday, Harrell received a Citizen's Service Award at the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office for this good deed.
Harrell said he would do it again if he had to.
"Anytime you can save a life, you should," he said. "He'd do the same for me."
