Woman who tried to prevent Heimlich from being done on disabled son gets probation

By Stephen T. Watson
News Staff Reporter


A Town of Tonawanda woman who tried to stop bystanders from performing the Heimlich maneuver on her choking 43-year-old son at a Niagara Falls Boulevard restaurant was sentenced to three years of probation this afternoon in Amherst Town Court.


Rolaine Foigelman, 68, of Montrose Avenue, had pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of an incompetent person in the June 18 incident at the Boulevard Family Restaurant.

Witnesses say she yelled, "Leave him alone; let him die," while her developmentally disabled son was choking and someone tried to assist him. Foigelman also was accused of trying to grab the phone from a restaurant employee who was calling 911.

Her son had recovered by the time Amherst police arrived.

She was sentenced by Amherst Town Justice Geoffrey Klein.

She had faced a maximum one-year jail term under her guilty plea.

swatson@buffnews.com
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