Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett has another skill in addition to Twitter and appellate decision writing — he knows the Heimlich maneuver and used it at an Austin Chick-fil-A restaurant to help save a fellow diner from choking.

Willett, whose nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is currently pending before U.S. Senate, was dining inside a Chick-fil-A on Tuesday when he noticed a fellow customer start performing the Heimlich maneuver on Danny Martinez, an Austin father who was dining with his daughter.

“I was hunched over my MacBook, munching some chicken strips while discussing errands with my wife on my cell,” Willett wrote in an email.

“I hung up on my wife (first time in 21 years!) and jumped up,” Willett wrote. “The quick-acting Good Samaritan, Herson De La Garza, a middle school band director, had given three or four upward abdominal thrusts, but the man was still choking. Herson moved over, and I gave a quick thrust or two, dislodging the nugget and clearing the airway.”

Willett said he was writing a letter to the Austin Independent School District superintendent to commend De La Garza's “Heimlich heroism.”

“This all happened in the blink of an eye. I implore everyone to get trained in the Heimlich, CPR, and other basic life-saving skills,” Willett wrote.

Martinez thanked both Willett and De La Garza for saving his life in a Twitter post. “I am the dad that was saved by the quick action of the two men,” he wrote. “I am very thankful for their help. It was all very fast, overwhelming and embarrassing. I cannot thank them enough.”

Willett wrote that Martinez thanked both he and De La Garza profusely, after catching his breath.

“And when someone thanks you for helping save their life at a Chick-fil-A, there's only one response: “My pleasure,” Willett wrote.