While on his lunch break Tuesday, Ames police officer Ed Morton choked on a mouth-full of food and passed out, requiring the Heimlich maneuver and transportation by ambulance to Mary Greeley Medical Center.

Sgt. Jim Robinson of the Ames Police Department said Morton was in Lasting Impressions Tattoo Studio, 114 Welch Ave., when he began to choke on some noodles. Lasting Impressions Owner Dennis Smith performed the procedure, saving Morton’s life, officials said.

Morton was treated and released at MGMC and sent home to rest.

Smith said Morton was eating some noodles when he began to cough, then vomit and passed out. When he passed out, Smith said Morton fell head first into a display case, but he wasn’t seriously injured by his fall.

“It was kind of a shock,” Smith said. “One minute he was just coughing and then suddenly he was on the floor, passed out.”

Smith said Morton often stops by his business during his lunch break to talk.

Smith, who has taken CPR classes the last two years, said it was difficult to perform the Heimlich maneuver because Morton was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Because he didn’t have time to figure out how to remove the vest, Smith said he instead gave Morton a tight bear hug, which dislodged the noodles caught in his air passage.

The incident, from Morton’s initial coughing to being revived, lasted three or four minutes, Smith said.