A Chick-fil-A employee vaulted through a drive-thru window in Georgia to help save a child being strangled by a seat belt.
Footage released by the business shows Logan Simmons, 19, jump through the window Tuesday in Flowery Branch, northeast of Atlanta, but does not capture the freak accident or its resolution.
Simmons told WSB-TV he used his pocket knife to free a six-year-old boy as the child’s mother frantically requested help.
The boy was “turning red and losing pigmentation in his face,” Simmons recalled.
Chick-fil-A is a fast-food chain with a dedicated following for its waffle fries and chicken sandwiches. It also has faced intense public scrutiny for its conservative leanings.
For years, the chain quietly displayed its owners’ religiosity by closing on Sundays. But in 2012, company CEO Dan Cathy joined the national debate over same-sex marriage, outraging supporters of the reform.
“I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,’” Cathy said in an interview. “I pray God’s mercy on our generation for having such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we would have the audacity to redefine what marriage is all about.”
Amid blowback, long lines of people who opposed expanding marriage rights to gay couples formed around the country to support the chain.
Although the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015 the fallout has lingered, with left-leaning local governments blocking Chick-fil-A stores from opening, citing corporate donations to socially conservative groups such as the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
In March, the San Antonio City Council voted to block Chick-fil-A from opening at the city’s airport. The board that governs New York’s Buffalo Niagara International Airport followed suit.
